Love Can Wait
by pukaroxliza
Summary: "Why?" asked Blaine as he did what Sam asked. "Well, 'cause you're my favourite thing that I like!" Some say that children know more than grown-ups. Sam can honestly say, from first hand experience, that this is 100% true.
1. Part 1

**Title**: Love Can Wait  
><strong>Author<strong>: pukaroxliza  
><strong>Rating<strong>: T, maybe slight R?  
><strong>CharactersPairing**: Sam/Blaine with a side of every other pairing/character under the Glee sun.  
><strong>Chapter<strong>: 1/3  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 24000+ (around 9000 for this part)  
><strong>Spoilers<strong>: Season 2?  
><strong>Warnings<strong>: AU, mentions of sex and sex dreams, nothing explicit; loads of crying and obliviousness.  
><strong>Summary<strong>: "Why?" asked Blaine as he did what Sam asked. "Well, 'cause you're my favourite thing that I like!" Some say that children know more than grown-ups. Sam can honestly say, from first hand experience, that this is 100% true.  
><strong>Authors Note<strong>: This started out as something completely different, but the characters sort of took over the story and this was the result. I know I should be writing the next chapter of Our Last Summer but... I just couldn't not write this story. This pairing has been calling to me for a long time, and since I'm completely stuck on my multi-chapter stories I decided a one-shot was in place. I hope you like it.  
>A special thank you to Loki Firefox who so kindly beta-ed this piece, and also gave me the sweetest and most amazing feedback as he read it (:<br>**Disclaimer**: I do not own Glee

**EDIT: I have separated this story in three parts so that it's easier to read.**

When Sam was eight years old his teacher made his entire class write a list of things they liked. Years later, Sam wouldn't even remember the point of making said list, but when he was eight he was beyond excited to do the project, because there were actually a lot of things he liked, and he was sure that his teacher (who was very pretty) would be impressed by the amount of things on his list.

So when school was done he ran to his mother's car, jumped in and urged her to drive home as fast as she possibly could. She had laughed and asked him what the rush was. Sam just grinned and told her that he was really excited to do his homework.

His mother had laughed harder, and Sam didn't even ask why she had laughed when he was obviously being completely serious, just continued bouncing up and down in his seat and telling his mom to go faster.

When he got home he quickly ran inside, kicked his shoes off and ran up to his bedroom, eager to start making his list of things he liked. He threw his backpack into a far corner of his room and then ran to his desk to grab a piece of paper, a blue pen (because blue was his very favourite colour) and a hardcover book and then flopped on his bed to begin his homework. He put the paper on the book, because obviously if he tried to write on his bed he would poke a hole through the paper, and stared at it for about twenty seconds, the giant grin still on his face.

He decided the first thing he would write would be the title of his homework so he very carefully and in his very best handwriting wrote 'Wat I liek' and then wrote his name underneath. He smiled, proud of himself and then set to work, thinking about things that he liked.

The problem was that while he was preparing to do this he had tons of things in his head that he knew he liked, but now that he actually had the paper in front of him he couldn't think of a single one.

He worried his bottom lip between his teeth, trying to think of things he liked. After what felt like an eternity he thought of his teacher, who he liked very much, and he was about to write that down when he realized that he didn't actually know how to spell her name. He thought for a second, said the name out loud to see if that helped, and then said it out loud again, because he thought that might help more. Annoyed, he simply wrote 'My techar' and decided that was good enough to get his point across. Of course, he knew that one boy in his class, the one with the weird hair, would make fun of him and call him a teacher's pet, but he really liked his teacher, and this was a list of things they liked, so he decided that he didn't care what that kid thought.

For the next half an hour (or at least Sam thought it was that long) he thought and thought and realized that maybe there weren't actually that many things he liked. So far he only had four things on his list, and he just couldn't seem to think of any more. He sighed, looking over the homework he had been so excited to do and let out an annoyed groan. Why couldn't he do this? He had so many good ideas when he was in the class and in the car!

Just as he was cursing himself for not writing any of them down on his hand he heard his mom call him from downstairs.

"Sammy! Blaine's here to see you!"

And if that didn't make Sam forget about his homework troubles he didn't know what would. His giant grin was back in place and he quickly bounded down the staircase, only to be told off by his mom 'cause apparently Stevie, his baby brother, was sleeping and they didn't want to wake him up. Sam's dad muttered something about his mom yelling for Sam to come downstairs and his mom blushed and swatted his dad playfully on the arm.

Sam's grin widened when he saw his best friend standing in the hallway, his hands in his pockets and his hair all over the place. Sam ran over to him and gave him a very tight hug, because he hadn't seen Blaine for about an hour, and it felt like forever.

Blaine laughed, toed his shoes off and followed Sam to his bedroom, smiling shyly at Sam's parents as they walked by. Remembering that Stevie was asleep, Sam exaggeratedly shushed Blaine and the two tip-toed as quietly as possible down the hall to Sam's room, where, as soon as they closed the door just as quietly, they burst into a fit of giggles.

"Hi," said Blaine, out of breath, as soon as they calmed down. Sam smiled.

"Hi! I didn't know you were coming over!" he said, jumping onto his bed and crossing his legs. Blaine did the same, although much more carefully than Sam had, and shrugged.

"Yeah... well, I just haven't seen you outside of school much so... I thought I would come by to say hi..." he trailed off, a blush covering his face and Sam laughed.

"Well, I'm glad you're here!" Blaine raised an eyebrow and Sam nodded, "I need help with the homework for today."

"The list of stuff we like that Miss Jackson sent?" asked Blaine, scooting closer to Sam. Sam nodded again and picked up the hard cover book with his paper on it and put it in his lap. As Blaine looked over it he started searching the bed for his pen.

"You spelt lotsa stuff wrong," pointed out Blaine. Sam turned to him, shrugging again.

"I can't spell very well. My mom says it's cause I have dys... something," he went back to looking for his pen. Blaine sighed loudly and then walked over to Sam's desk and pulled out another piece of paper and another pen. He sat back down on Sam's bed, put the book and paper in his own lap and wrote out everything that Sam had, but he spelt lots of things differently. Sam found his pen and let out a cry of success before clapping a hand over his mouth, remembering baby Stevie and he giggled and looked over what Blaine had written.

"Wow... You're a really neat speller Blaine!" he praised, and Blaine's cheeks lit up in another blush. Sam wanted to giggle again, because Blaine sure was blushing a lot today.

"Thanks..." he said quietly, handing Sam the two papers and book. Sam bit his bottom lip as he read the paper that Blaine had written and realized that it looked much nicer than what he had. He handed the book and the two papers back to Blaine.

"Can you help me think of more stuff I like?" he asked, opening his eyes really wide. Blaine shrugged.

"I guess..."

"Awesome! 'Cause I can't think of anything!" he let himself fall onto his back and grinned when he heard Blaine laugh.

"But you like loads of stuff Sammy!"

Sam glared at the use of his mom's nickname for him, but decided that it was okay, because this was Blaine and Blaine was his best friend so it didn't matter. "Well, that's what I thought too! But now I can't think of nothing!"

Blaine brought the end of the pen up to his mouth and chewed on it, and Sam knew he was thinking, 'cause Blaine always did that when he was thinking. "Well, you already have Miss Jackson, and the colour blue, and football, and your mommy and daddy, baby Stevie and the TV," Sam nodded along, because he remembered writing all that down. "What about weather?"

"What about it?" asked Sam, propping himself up on his elbows, allowing his light brown bangs to fall in front of his eyes. Blaine giggled as Sam tried to blow them out of the way, but then gave up, glaring at him playfully, "Shut up, what were you saying about the weather?"

"Oh, well, I already did mine, and I really like it when it rains, right?" yeah, Sam already knew that, "So I wrote it down. Is there any kind of weather that you really like?"

Sam thought about it and then shrugged. "I like it when it's really sunny..." he said. Blaine nodded and quickly wrote it down. "What else did you write on your list?"

Blaine paused, the pen going back to his mouth showing Sam that he was thinking again. "Well, I wrote the rain, and I wrote video games, and my parents and brother, and rootbeer and singing and playing piano and football and soccer and Rachel Berry and going shopping with my mommy and..." he suddenly stopped and blushed even deeper than before. Sam wanted to know what else he had written, but he had suddenly gotten a lot of good ideas for stuff he wanted Blaine to write down on his own list.

"Oh! I like video games too! And rootbeer, although I like coke better... and playing the guitar!" Blaine quickly wrote all these things down, his blush not disappearing as he looked back up at Sam, obviously asking what else. Sam thought for a few seconds and then suddenly seemed to remember something Blaine had written on his list. "You like Rachel Berry?"

Blaine nodded, a small smile appearing on his lips. "Yeah, she's really nice. We sit together in math and she helps me out a lot."

"But she never stops talking!" exclaimed Sam, throwing his hands in the air. Blaine shrugged and looked back down at the paper.

"Well, neither do you," he looked up at Sam and smirked. Sam sat up and shoved Blaine slightly. Blaine laughed and so did Sam.

"What else did you write on your list?"

Blaine sighed, his blush becoming stronger, "Well... I mean... school and uh... the fall and reading and uh..."

"Oh! That's a good idea! But I don't like the fall... I like summer," he smiled at Blaine who quickly wrote it down, "Okay, what else?"

Blaine started listing more things and wow, Blaine's list was really long! He probably liked more stuff than Sam did, which was very impressive because even though he couldn't think of anything he knew that he liked a lot of things. Every once in a while Sam would interrupt and tell Blaine to write something down and then Blaine would keep telling him the stuff he liked. When he reached the end he blushed again, and Sam thought that maybe it wasn't actually the end, so he asked Blaine.

"Anything else?"

"Uh...well..." Blaine fumbled with his pen, making it fall from his hands and then quickly dived to grab it. Sam was quicker though and reached over his best friend and grabbed the pen first, holding it over Blaine's head.

"Tell me or I won't give you your pen back!"

Blaine glared at him and then mumbled something under his breath. Sam didn't hear him, so he put his ear closer to Blaine's mouth.

"Huh?"

Blaine gave an annoyed sigh and then mumbled, "You," before clamping his lips shut tightly. Sam sat up, a giant grin forming on his face.

"Really?" he asked, and Blaine simply nodded, "Awesome! I can't believe I almost didn't write you down! Quick, add that to my list!"

Blaine looked up at him, surprised. "Really?" he whispered.

"Of course! You're my best friend! Wow, I feel really stupid for not thinking of you first! Actually, how about you put your name up on top of Miss Jackson's?"

"Why?" asked Blaine as he did what Sam asked.

"Well, 'cause you're my favourite thing that I like!" he answered, the grin still on his face. By this point Blaine was blushing so hard that Sam was pretty sure his face would catch fire, but he didn't say anything because he didn't want to embarrass his best friend.

Later on, after Blaine left, Sam showed his mom his list and she smiled before pointing out that it was obviously written by Blaine and that he'd have to write it out himself on a new piece of paper. Sam didn't really feel like it, and he explained to his mom that he had really done all the work, that Blaine had just done the writing, but his mom forced him to write it out anyway.

So he went back to his room and wrote everything down on a new piece of paper. He felt bad though, 'cause Blaine had been really nice to write everything out for him, so he took the list Blaine wrote, drew a heart beside Blaine's name (because they were best friends, and he had seen the girls at school do that) and then circled the name and the heart. He then asked his mom for a thumbtack and, after promising he would be very careful, he put the list on the cork board that was on the wall beside his desk. He promised to himself that he would never take it down.

The next day he gave Miss Jackson the list that he had written out, and she told him, with a very big smile on her face, that it was a very long list and that it was great that he liked so many things. Just as he had guessed, the kid with the funny hair (his name was apparently Noah Puckerman which he learnt after Miss Jackson told him off for writing boobies on his list) made fun of him for saying Miss Jackson was one of the things he liked, but that didn't matter, because not only did his teacher smile at him very nicely after he read it out loud, but so did Blaine. And that was worth getting laughed at any day.

XXX

In the summer between grade seven and eight things started changing. He started getting way taller, and his voice got deeper, and his shoulders got broader and he started getting hair down there and he started having...

dreams. Of course, he never talked to anyone about these dreams, because they were really embarrassing, and because none of the other kids his age were talking to their friends about that kind of stuff.

He had just finished his second year of middle school, which he had only managed to not fail because Blaine helped him with his homework and with studying, and he was enjoying not doing anything during the summer, simply suffering the pains of puberty alone with his guitar. And Blaine, sometimes. Oh, and Noah Puckerman (although he really preferred Puck) had started randomly showing up at his house with another guy from school, Finn Hudson, to play video games. But obviously he didn't talk to them about his voice getting deeper or the fact that he suddenly had hair everywhere or the... dreams.

Over the course of the summer he went to several parties, and at one he met this really hot girl named Santana who he had spent the entire night talking to (Blaine hadn't been able to make it, Finn was glued to Quinn Fabray's hip and Puck was making out with some girl he didn't recognize) and who he discovered he kind of liked. Sure, she was totally different from the last girl he liked (the very same Quinn Fabray that Finn had decided he was suddenly in love with) but she was still hot. So, at the end of the party they swapped numbers and he promised to call her.

He spent the next few days talking to Blaine about how awesome she was, and how he was pretty sure that he was in love, and that he hadn't even felt this way about Quinn, and should he ask her out? How soon was soon to call? Blaine had laughed at that and mentioned that he had no idea, since he had never asked anyone out either, and that maybe he should ask Puck who at thirteen had already had about seven or eight girlfriends.

One day, due to some bizarre turn of events, all four boys had ended up playing video games at Sam's house, which was actually stranger than it sounded because Blaine didn't usually like being over when Puck and Finn were, something Sam didn't really understand but didn't question. Something he had learnt about Blaine over the years was that if he wanted to tell him something, he would, and if he didn't then he wouldn't, no matter how many times Sam asked.

Sam decided he would just get it over with, because he and Santana had been texting a lot lately, and he was pretty sure that she liked him and he definitely liked her, so he asked Puck.

"Uh... Puck?" he asked while the two took a break from their Call Of Duty marathon so that Blaine and Finn could have a turn (Blaine was surprisingly kicking Finn's ass).

"Yeah?" asked his friend, lifting an eyebrow. Sam took a deep breath and forced himself to ask probably the most embarrassing question of his life: "How do you ask a girl out?"

Puck stared at him for a few seconds before busting out laughing, clutching his pop so tightly that some of it spilled out. Sam glared at him but resisted the urge to punch him in the stomach, because he actually wanted the answer to that question.

After about five minutes Puck calmed down, took a deep breath, and looked at Sam seriously, "Are you serious dude?"

Sam frowned, "Uh, yeah."

"Wow okay, uh... well, I don't know, go up to her and ask if she wants to hook up or something," Puck shrugged and Sam groaned.

"Dude, not helpful!"

"Well, what do you want me to say?"

"I don't know! Not that!" Sam rubbed the palms of his hands over his eyes. "I just... I really like this girl, and I don't want to just hook up with her, you know?"

Puck nodded and seemed to think for a second before he asked, "Who's the chick?"

Sam blushed, "Santana Lopez..."

Puck's eyebrows shot up. "Whoa! Santana Lopez as in Latina-built-like-a-Greek-goddess-goes-to-that-all-girls-school Santana Lopez?" Sam nodded and Puck grinned. "Nice. Well, first of all, she's way out of your league..." Sam interrupted with an annoyed 'Hey!' but Puck ignored him. "So you really have nothing to lose. Just ask her to a movie or something."

Sam groaned. "Yes, but _how_?"

"Uh... 'Hey, Santana, wanna catch a movie'?"

"Genius," said Sam sarcastically before letting himself fall on the sofa beside Blaine. The action caused his friend to miss a shot and he quickly glared at Sam who just shot him a smile before rolling his eyes and focusing on his game.

"So gentlemen!" said Puck loudly, "I have an announcement to make!"

Sam rolled his eyes, knowing that this couldn't be good. Finn and Blaine didn't say anything, their eyes glued to the TV screen. Puck continued anyway.

"Our friend Sammy here... is in love!"

Sam turned to glare at him, his elbow knocking Blaine's arm in the process and making him miss another shot, which made his best friend groan and punch him in the arm.

Finn shrugged, his eyes still on his game. "Dude, that's old news. We all knew that already."

Puck stared at Sam for a second and Sam thought back and realized that yeah, obviously he had told Blaine, and he actually had told Finn too because Finn had accused him of still going after Quinn.

"Wait, so I'm the only person you haven't told?" he gave Sam an incredulous look and Sam gave him an are-you-stupid look.

"No, obviously. I think you three are the only ones who know, actually."

"Yeah, but us three are the only ones who need to know! Dude! Why am I the last to know?"

Sam just shrugged, his eyes going back to the TV where he saw Blaine shoot someone. "Just worked out that way? Why do you even care?"

"I don't," replied Puck sitting down in Sam's dad's armchair. Sam just laughed and told Blaine and Finn to hurry up cause he really wanted a turn.

In the end he actually did just ask Santana to a movie, and she accepted, a giant smile on her face. The whole date he had no idea what to do, and surprisingly Santana seemed just as nervous. This was surprising because she came off as a total HBIC, but he was internally glad that he wasn't the only one freaking out. They held hands during the movie, and then Sam bought dinner at a nearby McDonald's before walking Santana home (still holding her hand). When they got to her house they said goodbye awkwardly before Santana bravely brushed her lips against his. Sam thought his insides had exploded, and instantly found himself wanting to kiss the girl again, but instead he simply stood there while Santana walked into her house, giggling quietly.

The first thing he did when he got home was call Blaine.

"Dude, you have to come over here, right now!" he exclaimed as he fell onto his bed, his heart still racing. Blaine laughed.

"Sam, it's ten o'clock."

"And your curfew is eleven thirty! Come on, it's not like I live on the other side of town!"

He heard Blaine give an exasperated sigh before agreeing and telling him he'll be over in two minutes. Sure enough almost as soon as he had hung up he heard the doorbell ring (which awarded him an evil glare from his mom) and he rushed down the stairs. Blaine laughed when he saw Sam, and Sam guessed it was because he was still on cloud nine and it was extremely obvious by the way he was grinning ridiculously and practically skipping up the stairs to his room. His mom popped her head out of her and his dad's room and hissed that he better keep it down unless he wanted to be the one to calm Stacy down if she woke up again and oh, hi Blaine!

Sam ignored his mom but Blaine, ever the gentleman, politely apologized and told her that she looked fantastic which earned him a blush from Sam's mom and would have earned him an eye roll from Sam, except Sam had just had his first kiss, and he was pretty happy about it. When they reached Sam's room, Sam quickly fell on his bed, spreading out his arms and letting out a dreamy sigh. Blaine closed the door to avoid waking up Sam's younger siblings and then went to sit on the chair by Sam's desk. His eyes lingered on something on Sam's cork board before he turned to his friend.

"So I'm guessing the date went well?" he asked, a hint of a smile in his voice. Sam sighed again.

"Oh my God Blaine, it was great! I was so nervous! But she was too, can you believe it? And then we held hands and I don't even know what movie we watched, and I bought her a burger 'cause I'm a gentleman and then we kissed! We kissed Blaine! My first kiss!" Sam resisted the urge to squeal, because obviously he was a guy, plus it was really annoying when girls did that. Blaine chuckled.

"So yeah, your date went well?"

"Shut up," said Sam throwing his pillow at Blaine who laughed as he caught it without any effort at all. He threw it back at Sam who let out a strangled 'Oomph' when it hit him in the face. "Hey!" he pulled the pillow off and put it under his head. "No fair! I'm distracted!"

Blaine laughed again and then looked away, towards whatever he had been looking at on Sam's cork board before whispering, "What was it like?"

Sam sat up, tilted his head slightly and furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"You know... the kiss. What was it like?"

Sam thought for a second, trying to find the right word to describe what he felt for that brief second that his and Santana's lips had connected. "Oh man, I don't even know. It was awesome. It was like... like my heart and stomach exploded."

Blaine laughed quietly. "Sounds fun."

"It was! I hope she'll let me do it again!" he sighed dreamily again and lay back down on his bed.

"You really like her, huh?" asked Blaine, and Sam felt a goofy smile slip on his face.

"Yeah... yeah I really do. What, you hadn't gotten that from the constant obsessing?" Blaine laughed and shook his head.

"No, I hadn't. You've been obsessing?"

"Jerk," replied Sam, too happy to say anything else. Blaine rolled his eyes. Then something occurred to Sam, "Wait! What about you?"

Blaine froze. "...What about me?" he asked cautiously. Sam sat up, his eyes instantly locking on his best friends'.

"Well, I mean, you must like someone, right?" Blaine shrugged, the blush that Sam had grown so used to seeing creeping onto his face.

"I... I don't know. I don't think so..."

Sam huffed, "No, you can't not think so! You either like someone or you don't! Come on dude, you can tell me! Do I know her?"

Blaine's blush deepened as he nodded. Sam grinned. "Bingo! I knew it! It's Rachel, right?" Blaine's eyes widened, and that was really all the confirmation that Sam needed. "Ha! It totally is! Dude, you should ask her out! She's totally into you."

Blaine shrugged, his blush becoming more intense. "I don't know I mean... we've been really good friends for a long time and I don't want to ruin that..."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm going to tell you something that my mom told me, like, ages ago, alright?" Blaine nodded before Sam continued, "She told me, 'Sammy, if you ever like a girl, you need to go for it. Don't make her wait, because eventually she'll stop waiting'. So there you go! Just go for it! What do you have to lose?"

"Uh... her friendship if something goes wrong?" suggested Blaine sarcastically and Sam sighed.

"Well, you just have to think about if you like her enough to take that risk," he shrugged before a dreamy expression took over his face again as his lips tingled with the memory of his first kiss. He could feel Blaine's eyes on him for a few seconds before he heard his friend let out deep breath.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. Sam turned his head so he could look at Blaine, a smile on his face.

"Well, if you do go for it, I'm behind you all the way! And you better tell me the second you two kiss, because you were totally the first person I told!"

Blaine laughed and nodded, glanced at the cork board once more and then looked at his watch. "Hey, I'm going to head back to my place. My mom wants me to do the dishes so..."

"Oh, I see, so you used coming to see me as an excuse to slack off, very nice," Sam told him playfully. Blaine scoffed.

"_You_ called _me_," and then he rolled his eyes as he stood up, mumbling 'dumbass' under his breath. Sam laughed and waved at his back as Blaine disappeared from his room.

Xxx

The next summer, the one before he started high school, was particularly nerve-wracking for Sam. Thankfully, his girlfriend's parents had allowed her to enrol at McKinley High with him instead of shipping her off to some private school for girls in Westerville, but that was basically the only good thing he could see about starting at the new school. He had heard enough horror stories from Blaine's brother to know that freshmen tended to not be the rest of the student body's favourite people. Honestly he tried not to be nervous—mainly because Santana said it made him look like he had to poop—but it was difficult considering there was a pretty high possibility of getting his head shoved down the toilet on the first day. And Blaine's brother had already graduated, so he wouldn't be able to stand up for them.

On top of that, Blaine was acting really weird. He had been since about the middle of February actually, but it had become more noticeable over the summer. Whenever Sam called on him he was always busy, and when he did come over to play video games or whatever he was detached, as if his mind was somewhere else entirely. Puck and Finn seemed to have noticed too because by the middle of July both of them had asked him about it. They had seemed surprised to hear that Sam had no idea either.

He started getting really worried when Rachel Berry appeared on his doorstep one day, tears running down her face (along with runny mascara) and demanding an answer as to why Blaine had just broken up with her after being together for almost an entire year. Sam didn't know how to respond and stupidly asked her if she had asked Blaine. She just cried harder, telling him that she had, that she had come over for a surprise visit since she felt like she hadn't seen him at all all summer and he had simply broken up with her, his only excuse being 'I just can't anymore'.

After several (failed) attempts to calm Rachel down he sent her on his way and decided that he was going to find out what was going on with Blaine whether he liked it or not. Yes, he was aware that if Blaine didn't want to tell him there was no way he would get it out of him, but that didn't mean that he couldn't bug the crap out of him while trying.

He walked to the house right next to his and rang the doorbell several times, showing his impatience. Blaine's mom appeared at the door, an annoyed look on her face, but Sam simply couldn't bring himself to care.

"Sam, hello, we weren't expecting you," she said in a clipped tone. Sam nodded.

"I know, surprise visit, is Blaine home?" he already knew the answer, but he had learnt the hard way that the Andersons didn't really like it when he just assumed and marched up to his friend's room. She nodded, stepping to the side. He toed his shoes off, also knowing that Mr. Anderson was a total neat freak and that if he simply kicked them off the man would probably have a seizure, and ran up the stairs to Blaine's room, which was considerably larger than his own.

He knocked and opened the door without waiting for an answer. He saw Blaine sitting at his desk with his laptop open to a page that Sam couldn't see. Without turning to see who it was, Blaine shut the laptop quickly, spinning around in his chair at the speed of light, his eyes wide.

"Wh- oh, Sam. Hi. Wasn't expecting you."

Sam eyed the computer, decided to ask later, and closed the door behind him quietly. "Yeah, I decided to drop in to surprise you. Are you surprised?"

Blaine raised his eyebrows. "Uh..."

"What is going on with you Blaine?" he asked as he settled himself on his best friend's bed. Blaine took a deep breath.

"Nothing's wrong, why would you think...?" Sam cut him off.

"Don't bullshit me Blaine. Rachel was just at my house," Blaine's eyes widened impossibly and Sam nodded, "Yeah, care to explain why you dumped her just... out of the blue?"

Blaine shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "It wasn't entirely out of the blue... I don't... I just..."

"That's not all Blaine! You haven't been hanging out at all this summer! Even Puck and Finn are worried, and you know that that's a pretty incredible feat."

Blaine sighed, "Sam I just..."

"No, you don't 'just', okay? What the hell is going on? Because honestly I'm kinda starting to freak out."

"Yeah, well, so am I!" snapped Blaine, and Sam's eyes widened, because he had never heard his friend talk like that... like he was... well, angry. Blaine glared at him. "What, you think that I haven't been talking to you or Puck or Finn or Rachel or anybody all summer because I just... I just _feel_ like it?"

Sam shook his head, shocked at his friend's outburst. "No! No, that's not—that's why I asked! I just wanna know what's going on with you... I want to help you!"

"Well, you can't. So if you don't mind," he turned around in his chair, and suddenly Sam was mad, too. He stood up and stalked over to Blaine's chair, turning it around so that his friend was facing him and placing a hand on each armrest.

"I do mind, actually. What the hell Blaine! You honestly think that I'd just leave? That you can get rid of me that easily? Do the past fourteen years mean absolutely nothing to you? Do you even _know_ me at all? Do you really think I'm going to let my best friend go through... whatever this is, alone?"

Blaine took a shaky breath and his eyes darted away from Sam's for a second before looking back into them, "Sam, I just..."

"You obviously just don't trust me!" he practically screamed, and Blaine's eyes widened. "God I can't believe you! Stop pulling away from me Blaine! I don't care what's going on! I'm your friend, right? Your best friend? So I'll obviously be there for you during... whatever! Just fuc-" Blaine cut him off.

"But this would change everything!" he yelled, standing up and forcing Sam to do the same. "This would... you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore! Neither would Finn, or Puck or... or anybody! God, Sam, do you know how difficult this is for me? Wanting to tell you so badly that it _physically hurts_ but not being able to because I know it'll be the last words I say to you as best friends?"

Sam grabbed Blaine by the shoulders and forced him to look him in the eye. "I would never stop being your friend. Ever. Whatever it is. I swear to you, this, you and me? It'll never change."

And before he knew it, Blaine had wrapped his arms around him and was crying into his shoulder. Sam was surprised; in all the years he had known Blaine he had only seen him cry twice, and both times were back when they were still in elementary school. Instinctively he put his arms around Blaine's shoulders the way he always did to Santana whenever she cried (which wasn't often, basically only when she was drunk) and pulled him closer. Blaine just tightened his hold and continued to cry.

"I'm so scared Sam," he whispered, and without thinking about it Sam started petting his hair, "I'm just... I'm so scared..."

The stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, Blaine crying and Sam simply holding him, petting his hair and occasionally squeezing him closer.

Finally Blaine slowly peeled himself off of Sam, sniffled and wiped his eyes, which were bloodshot and puffy from crying. Sam patted him on the back and slowly sat down on Blaine's bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked carefully. Blaine wrapped his arms around himself for a second, a few more tears escaping his eyes before he took a deep breath and nodded, sitting down beside Sam on the bed.

"You... you won't leave, right? You won't stop being my friend?" he whispered. He sounded about five, and Sam just wanted to pull him into his arms again and never let him go. Instead he shook his head, even though Blaine couldn't see him, since he had closed his eyes.

"No. Never. You're stuck with me forever."

Blaine laughed and then took a few more deep breaths to calm himself before he opened his eyes and looked straight at Sam.

"Okay, well... you remember that one night at the beginning of last year? At Puck's 'back to school' party? When you were... completely drunk?"

Sam blushed but nodded. Of course he remembered. It had been his first time being drunk. He was lucky Blaine and Santana were there, because if not he probably would have jumped off the roof or something.

"Okay, well, I don't know if you remember this but at some point you started talking about like... the changes your body had been going through or whatever as you got older..."

Sam's blush deepened, "Oh, God, I didn't!"

Blaine laughed shakily and nodded, "Yeah, well... at first it was just normal stuff you know, like, I was going through the same stuff: the voice changes, the pubic hair... but then you started mentioning... well... dreams."

"Just kill me now" muttered Sam, dragging his hands over his face. Blaine laughed again.

"Yeah it uh... it got pretty awkward pretty quick. But anyway, when you finished describing several of your dreams you asked me if I had ever had any dreams like that. If I ever thought about... well, having sex. And well, honestly at that point I hadn't. So when I got home I started wondering if there was something wrong with me," he took a deep breath, "Well, when I got home that night I asked my dad about it, and he told me that it was

fine that I didn't have those dreams, that I was just a late bloomer, but I have a tendency to just not believe what my dad says, so I decided to ask Finn and Puck about it.

"Finn was super awkward, but Puck was really straight forward and told me that of course he had dreams like that, that it was normal to dream about having... sex... with girls. He actually swore that he had been having those dreams since he was two," Sam chuckled at their friends stupidity, "Well, obviously I was really confused. And then I asked Santana and she was pretty straight forward. She told me that either yeah, I was a late bloomer, or there was something wrong with me, because apparently she has those kinds of dreams, too," Sam couldn't help the smile that slipped onto his face at the thought of Santana dreaming about him in that scenario because well, obviously she was dreaming about him.

Blaine seemed to think about what to say next before he took a deep breath, "Well, it turns out she was right on both accounts. I was a late bloomer. Around February of this year I started having sex dreams. But um... Oh God..." Blaine started crying again

Sam raised an eyebrow, "Blaine, that's totally normal! You know that! Come on, you didn't have to break up with Rachel because you want to... you know..." he trailed off awkwardly. Blaine shook his head, inhaling sharply.

"No, no that's just the thing, I thought they would be about Rachel because she was my girlfriend and she was great and pretty and I really liked her but... God, okay, you remember what you told me after you kissed Santana for the first time?"

Sam grinned, "Yeah."

"Okay, well, it was never like that for me with Rachel. I never felt the butterflies or the... explosions or whatever. Not that it wasn't pleasant, cause it was, but just... I always felt like there was something missing. And then I started having those dreams and..."

Sam frowned, "Blaine... you need to help me out here, 'cause I'm really confused. It's totally cool if you like another girl, or fantasized about her or whatever... I mean, I know I've fantasized about girls other then San..."

"No," Blaine was almost hysterically sobbing at this point, "No it's... I didn't dream about girls Sam!"

Sam blinked at him, not sure what to say, "I don't... understand... what do you dream about? Horses?"

Blaine groaned, "God, you're... Listen, Sam, this is the first time I've said this out loud, so it might take me a while okay?"

Sam raised an eyebrow but nodded anyway, completely confused. Blaine didn't have sex dreams about girls? But... he did have sex dreams? He bit his bottom lip, trying to figure out what his best friend was telling him. He wanted to hit himself. It was probably really obvious too, and he was just too stupid to figure it out. Sex dreams but not about girls... How was that even possible? Who would he have sex dreams of if it weren't...

It clicked literally two seconds before Blaine said it out loud.

"Sam, I think I'm gay."

Sam stared at Blaine, what he was saying and what he had figured out for himself sinking in. Blaine... Blaine his best friend... But, no, that didn't make sense! Gay guys like girly things and wore pink and spoke in a high voice and...

Blaine covered his face with his hands, "Oh God, you're probably totally disgusted by me, right? I shouldn't have said anything... I shouldn't have said..."

Sam cut him off by pulling him into a tight hug. Like earlier, Blaine began crying into his shoulder, his arms wrapping around his waist tightly. Sam rested his cheek against his best friend's hair.

"Don't ever say that," he whispered, "Don't even suggest that. I could never be disgusted by you. Never. Not even if you _were_ having sex dreams about a horse," Blaine laughed at that, although it sounded more like a half laugh half sob, "You're my best friend Blaine. I don't care whether you like guys or girls. I'll always be here for you. Never getting rid of me, remember?"

Blaine whimpered and nuzzled closer to Sam, "Thank you so much Sam," he whispered, and Sam just tightened his hold on him.

XXX

It took Blaine about a year to officially come out, even though most already suspected. Sam was pretty sure he would always remember the swell of pride that he felt for his friend when he saw that someone had spray painted 'FAG' on Blaine's locker and the little note under it written in Blaine's neat handwriting that read 'And proud of it!'. The second he spotted his best friend he pulled him into a tight hug and whispered how proud he was of him. Blaine just laughed and shrugged him off, telling him that people would start to think that he was gay, too. At that moment Sam didn't care. He slung his arm around Blaine anyway, practically daring someone to say something.

xxx

Sam became quarterback at the beginning of his junior year in high school, which was good, because he definitely needed the cool boost since Santana dumped him over the summer. It was also a bonus to see Karofsky and Azimio's faces when they saw who the QB was. He could still hear their words from the year before, 'Just ditch the queer, you'll be at the top. Nobody will dare touch you'. As quarterback, he was pretty sure he couldn't get more to the top, and he had managed to keep his best friend along the way. So those two assholes could just eat their words.

The first few months of school were amazing. It seemed like suddenly nobody wanted to shoot Blaine dirty looks or accuse him of dragging Sam down with his gayness. It also helped that Finn and Puck finally decided to stop being jerks and became friends with Blaine again. Soon, about half the football team seemed to be really close to the kid that they had been throwing slushies at and tossing in dumpsters. Blaine actually became strangely close to one member of the team, Mike Chang, who barely ever spoke and seemed to just always be around. As their friendship progressed, Mike slowly came out of his box and started participating more in conversations, on top of also starting to attend parties. For a while Sam wondered if maybe there was something going on with Mike and Blaine, something more than friendship, but he kept remembering that Mike had a girlfriend, an equally quiet girl named Tina who instantly bonded with Santana after Blaine introduced them. For some reason, he was relieved to find out that Mike was, indeed, not Blaine's boyfriend.

The rest of the football team and a few losers from the hockey team still harassed Blaine, but it was significantly less obvious than his first two years of high school. Sam gave his status as quarterback full credit for this.

But then in November Sam's whole world seemed to fall out from under his feet.

He had been doing his homework, after being literally forced up the stairs by his mom and forcibly sat down in his chair, while being reminded that back when he was eight he had always seemed to be really excited to do homework. Sam had rolled his eyes, and then glanced at the 'What I Like' list written in eight year-old Blaine's handwriting still on his cork board. He had to laugh at his eight year old self when he noticed the heart beside his best friends name, and the fact that he had circled both items.

He was about halfway done with his math when Blaine had burst into the room, a giant smile on his face and gave Sam one of the tightest hugs in the world.

"Whoa, okay," his chair rolled back a bit when Blaine let him go and he laughed as his best friend fell on his bed, his arms spread out, very reminiscent of when Sam had shared his first kiss with Santana so many years ago, except obviously the positions were swapped.

"Are you high?" he asked as Blaine let out a dreamy sigh. He shook his head and turned to look at Sam, and Sam could swear that his eyes were literally shining.

"Remember when we were like... thirteen? And you told me what if felt like to kiss Santana? With the explosions and all that?"

Sam nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off of Blaine's for one second. Blaine grinned.

"I finally understand how that feels."

Sam's eyes widened and he felt like someone had just punched him in the gut.

"What... how... huh?"

Blaine giggled and stretched, wriggling a bit in the bed, "_Well_ remember how I told you that I had met this cute guy at the GAP?"

Sam just nodded, unable to say anything. It was like all of his words got lost on the way to his mouth. He noticed that Blaine's shirt had ridden up slightly when he had stretched. Had he always been that tan? He quickly tore his eyes away, looking back into his best friend's eyes.

"He asked me out," Blaine was grinning from ear to ear now, and yeah, his eyes were definitely shinning. Sam swallowed the lump in his throat.

"He asked you out?" and he was pretty sure that he sounded annoyed but playful at the same time, "And you didn't tell me? Dude!"

"I didn't want to jinx it," said Blaine, winking. Sam felt his cheeks reddening, and was he really blushing? Shouldn't that be Blaine?

"Well, obviously it succeeded if you're this giddy," he said, forcing a smile. Why wasn't he happy for Blaine? Blaine had been happy for him when he and Santana had started dating. Why couldn't he be the same for his friend?

Blaine nodded, clamping his mouth tight, obviously trying not to squeal. Sam remembered when he had been in that position, thirteen, finally having been kissed by the girl of his dreams and Blaine had laughed at him and been happy for him, and had awkwardly asked him what it was like. So why couldn't he do that for Blaine? Why did he feel the urge to just... punch this guy in the face?

"He kissed me," and Sam felt like someone had literally pulled a rug from under his feet.

"Really?" he managed, even though his voice was slightly higher than normal. Blaine obviously didn't notice.

"Oh God Sam," he sighed happily, "It was just like you said! With the stomach explosions and... oh God, I probably sound like such a girl but I really just want to squeal very loudly right now."

Sam nodded, although inside he was seething. Who did this guy think he was? Just marching in and stealing Blaine's kiss-with-a-boy-ginity. He was probably some forty year-old creep who had his friend under some sort of magic spell or something...

"How old did you say he was?" he asked, his voice now way deeper than normal. Again, Blaine didn't notice.

"Twenty," he replied happily, "Oh, Sam, his lips were so soft... it was so amazing... I didn't know kissing could be like that..."

"Well, you've only ever kissed girls before, more specifically you've only ever kissed Rachel, so of course this would seem wonderful," Blaine looked up at this, and Sam wondered if maybe he had noticed how stony his voice was.

"What? No, I've kissed a boy bef..." his eyes quickly widened at what he had said and so did Sam's. He clapped a hand over his mouth and quickly tried to amend what he just said, "I mean, you know, I've imagined what it would be like..."

"Who?" asked Sam, and Blaine's eyes got even wider. Sam had tried to keep his tone neutral but apparently it had come out much harsher than he had intended. "Nobody, nobody, forget I said anything..."

"Blaine. Who have you kissed other than this GAP guy?"

Blaine swallowed, the glow in his eyes suddenly gone, "Look, Sam, I want to tell you, really I do, but I just... I can't! It's not my secret to tell," he whispered the last words, sitting up. Sam looked all over his face, searching for some kind of sign of who it was, but he found none.

"Fine," he decided, and then, before he could stop himself, he asked, "So where did this guy take you?"

Blaine's grin returned and so did the light in his eyes and in that second, Sam decided that no matter how much it seemed to bother him that someone had taken Blaine out and kissed him (why did it bother him?) he would be happy for his friend. Because whoever this grandpa was obviously made Blaine happy, and seeing Blaine happy really was enough.

It didn't mean that he wasn't allowed to feel slightly sick to his stomach when Blaine started gushing about the guy's lips again.

xxx

_He kissed me._

_He kissed me._

_He kissed me._

Every time he heard the words in his head, Sam felt the inexplicable urge to start blowing chunks.


	2. Part 2

**Title**: Love Can Wait  
><strong>Author<strong>: pukaroxliza  
><strong>Rating<strong>: T, maybe slight R?  
><strong>CharactersPairing**: Sam/Blaine with a side of every other pairing/character under the Glee sun.  
><strong>Chapter<strong>: 2/3  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 24000+ (about 9000 for this part)  
><strong>Spoilers<strong>: Season 2?  
><strong>Warnings<strong>: AU, mentions of sex and sex dreams, nothing explicit; loads of crying and obliviousness.  
><strong>Summary<strong>: "Why?" asked Blaine as he did what Sam asked. "Well, 'cause you're my favourite thing that I like!" Some say that children know more than grown-ups. Sam can honestly say, from first hand experience, that this is 100% true.  
><strong>Authors Note<strong>: I want to apologize to those who added this story to their story alerts and who might think this is a sequel :/ I have simply taken the advice of several reviewers and split the story in three parts for easier reading. Sorry for the inconvenience.  
>A special thank you to Loki Firefox who so kindly beta-ed this piece, and also gave me the sweetest and most amazing feedback as he read it (:<br>**Disclaimer**: I do not own Glee

"I want you to meet Jeremiah."

Sam closed his locker and slowly turned around to find Blaine standing behind him, a nervous smile on his face. Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" he asked, starting to walk towards his next class. Blaine huffed.

"Because, Samuel, we've been together for a month already, and you're my best friend, and I think it would be great if you met him," Blaine seemed so sure of himself that Sam forgot for a second that he hated Jeremiah. He was still trying to figure out why he hated Jeremiah; he had convinced himself that it was simply because he had just broken up with his girlfriend of three years, and now Blaine was in a relationship so obviously he was jealous of the closeness he and Jeremiah obviously shared, which reminded him of his closeness with Santana. Of course, he knew he was bullshitting himself, but that didn't stop him from trying to convince himself that that was the reason.

"Fine. Time and place?" Blaine had just grinned and listed off the information on the date and Sam had to roll his eyes at himself as Blaine skipped away. He honestly had zero backbone when it came to that boy.

xxx

Jeremiah, it turned out, was this completely hipster guy with a ridiculous hair cut and ugly clothing. Sure, he could admit that he wasn't exactly ugly, but it wasn't like he was incredibly handsome like Blaine had made him out to be. Blaine was way better looking than this guy.

Where did that come from?

When he and Blaine arrived at Breadstix (they had carpooled) a tall blond guy had waved them over and as soon as they were close enough he had pulled Blaine closed and completely attacked his mouth. Sam resisted the urge to fake gag.

"Hey," he said to Blaine when they parted. Blaine looked completely lovestruck, as if the guy in front of him was God's gift to the world.

"Hey," he breathed, and Sam had never heard Blaine talk like that, but damn if he didn't want to hear him talk like that again. Blaine and Jeremiah stared at each other for what felt like hours and just when it looked like Jeremiah was going to attempt to eat Blaine's face again Sam cleared his throat. Blaine turned to him and coughed awkwardly, stepping away from his boyfriend (Sam really hated that word).

"Uh, Jeremiah, this is Sam, he's my best friend. Sam, this is Jeremiah. My boyfriend," he noticed how Blaine's mouth turned up at the word boyfriend, and he looked away instantly, locking his eyes with his best friend's boyfriend. He faked a smile.

"Nice to meet you."

He could tell Jeremiah's smile was just as fake.

"Pleasure is all mine."

The three stood in awkward silence, Sam and Jeremiah in an intense staring contest. Sam noticed that Jeremiah's left eye seemed to twitch after about three seconds, but the message those eyes were sending him was still clear. Blaine is mine.

Blaine clapped Sam on the back and he quickly turned to look at him, breaking the eye contact with Jeremiah. He could feel the tension filling the air, and he was pretty sure it would be there all night. Blaine nodded towards the entrance of the restaurant and all three boys (well, two boys and one pedophile) entered.

xxx

The next day Sam told Blaine in no uncertain terms that he didn't like Jeremiah.

"What?" Blaine's eyes widened as they sat down with Puck, Finn, Mike, Tina, Santana and Brittany (another cheerleader), "Why not?"

"Well, a) he's way too old for you," he started, and Blaine just rolled his eyes, which for some reason bothered Sam, "Don't roll your eyes at me, you know it's true. '_Oh, well, I'm in my third year at OSU. I'm studying to be a teacher in high school. I just work at the GAP to pay the bills_'. He's in his third year of university Blaine! And he lives by himself!"

"Actually he has a roommate..." Blaine muttered, and Sam just stared at him.

"Have you been to this guy's _house_?"

Blaine rolled his eyes again, "Yes, Sam, I have been to Jeremiah's house! He cooked me dinner for our third date. It was very romantic, thank you very much."

Sam saw red, "Romantic? Oh please, that guy is just trying to get in your pants! You're just too blindly in love with him to see it!"

Blaine's jaw dropped, "How... how _dare you_... Do you really think I would just... just spread my legs for anybody? Who the hell do you think I am? Puckerman?"

Puck quickly said, "Hey man, don't bring me into this!" but Sam completely ignored him.

"Oh please Blaine, you've been alone for how long? You practically drip sexual frustration, but you're one of those annoying 'if you're not in love it's not special'-guys, so you've convinced yourself that you love that idiot so that you don't feel like crap for just giving yourself to the first guy who shows interest!"

Nobody spoke for at least a minute. Sam and Blaine just stared at each other, Sam's eyes hard and cold, Blaine looking like he was about to burst into tears. Then without a word Blaine stood up and walked away, his lunch untouched. Sam watched him leave, scowled and took a huge bite out of his sandwich. He felt all his friends' eyes on him but he ignored them, staring at his lunch tray. Finally, Finn broke the silence.

"What the hell was that dude?"

Sam turned his glare to him and Finn jumped in his seat. "This is your business how...?"

"Well... I mean... Blaine is our friend too and..." Finn was obviously at a loss for words, and he quickly turned to Puck who rolled his eyes at his best friend before turning to look at Sam, obviously not intimidated by Sam's death glare in the least. "That was a real douchebaggy move, Evans," he deadpanned. Sam's laugh was humourless.

"Right, cause you can talk Mr. I'll-just-ignore-him-for-the-first-two-years-after-he-comes-out-and-throw-fucking-slushies-in-his-face..."

"Whatever. You know what Sam, I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but what you just told Blaine? Even I wouldn't have said that. And that says something," and he went back to eating, completely ignoring the glare that Sam was shooting at him. Sam set his jaw and considered switching tables when Rachel came up and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sam, what happened to Blaine?" she asked, her voice laced with concern. He rolled his eyes.

"Why are you asking me?" he asked, and she took a step back, obviously surprised by his answer.

"Well, you two are best friends, so I just guessed that you would know what happened..."

"Evans called him a slut is what happened," said Puck, turning his own death glare on Sam, and whoa, yeah, that was way more intimidating than his was. Rachel's eyes widened.

"What? Why would you... Sam! That's..."

"Look, I don't like this Jeremiah guy. He's shifty. And he's twenty! Isn't that like, illegal? I swear I have half a mind to call the cops and get him locked up..."

The sound of Rachel slapping him across the face caused the entire cafeteria to look over at them.

"I don't know what is wrong with you Sam Evans, but whatever it is you need to_ get over it_. Blaine has never been as happy as he is with Jeremiah, okay? And after about a thousand years of pining after..." she paused, obviously stopping herself from saying something she would regret later, "...someone, he's finally found someone who loves him for who he is and who he loves, and that should be enough for you. I swear to God, you are quite possible the biggest asshole in the world, and I say that completely aware that Puckerman is sitting at this table."

"Hey!" Rachel ignored him and stormed off. Sam was completely speechless, and his cheek stung, but not as much as her words.

Blaine had been pining? He had never known that. Who had Blaine liked before that... Jeremiah? He turned to his friends who were all giving a look like he was a complete idiot. Santana stood up and opened her mouth as if to say something, but then closed it, shook her head and followed Rachel out of the cafeteria, Sam guessed to go comfort Blaine. Finn looked like he was in complete shock, his eyes slightly glazed over and of course, Finn _would_ choose this exact moment to fall in love with Blaine's ex.

Brittany was the next to stand up, and unlike Santana she actually did say something, "I thought Blaine was your friend. You should be happy for him, even if you aren't who's making him happy," and then she followed in the footsteps of Blaine and the two girls who had followed him. Sam's heart clenched at those words. _Even if you aren't who's making him happy_. Was that why he hated Jeremiah so much? Because Sam had always been the person who was there for Blaine, through absolutely everything, his rock? And now Jeremiah was in the picture, so he felt like Blaine might not need him?

That... actually sounded pretty accurate.

He still felt like something was missing but... it seemed Brittany had realized what was wrong with Sam in about two minutes while Sam had been wondering for over a month and he just hadn't been able to place it.

Without another word he stood up and left, his practically untouched lunch beside Blaine's completely untouched one.

xxx

About a week after their fight, Sam began to feel strange. At first he wasn't sure what it was, so he just chocked it up to the change in the weather. Except that the weather had stopped changing about two weeks ago, and they were now living in an Ohio winter wonderland. Then one day his stomach started hurting. He wondered at first if maybe he had eaten something bad, but he then realized that he hadn't actually eaten much over the past week. Maybe it was that? That he hadn't eaten and now he was dying of starvation?

The next day he got a migraine, which was ridiculous because Sam never got those. He tried taking pills at home, but nothing seemed to help. Next it was his throat. It felt scratchy and raw, and he had no idea why.

By the end of his second week of not talking to Blaine he found he was having difficulties breathing. It was screwing around with his football, and messing with his grades (as if his dyslexia didn't do that enough) and Sam just couldn't find out what was wrong with him. When he got sent to the nurse's office after almost passing out five minutes into football practice, he was pretty sure that this wasn't just some sickness. He just wished he knew what was wrong with him.

After the nurse looked him over and declared that he seemed to be in perfect health, but told him he would call his parents anyway, he lay down on one of those weird examination table things and took several deep breaths, trying to calm down. What the hell? If he was in perfect health then why did he feel like he was dying?

"You're Blaine Anderson's friend, aren't you?" asked a female voice from beside him. Sam turned slowly to find an African-American girl looking him over from where she sat on another one of those weird examination table things. She looked really familiar, and he was pretty sure she was friends with Rachel, but he simply couldn't remember her name.

"I was," he answered, his heart feeling as if it had just been ripped out of his chest when he said it. She raised an eyebrow.

"What happened? Last I checked you two were inseparable!"

He began coughing, and quickly sat up, and after about two minutes of coughing his lungs out he turned back to the girl.

"You been watching me or something?"

She laughed, and he suddenly felt like laughing too.

"Of course. Just one of your many admirers, oh mighty quarterback," she replied, and he smiled shyly.

"I didn't mean to sound vain... honestly..."

She laughed again. "It's fine. I probably sounded kind of stalkerish. I'm Mercedes Jones. I'm friends with Rachel and I talk to Blaine on occasions," she stuck her hand out and he grinned as he took it.

"Sam Evans. But you already knew that," he winked and smirked. She raised an eyebrow and he laughed, "Sorry, I had too."

She rolled her eyes, but smiled, "So, Sam Evans, what brings you to the nurse on such a fine day?"

xxx

He started feeling better once he started hanging out with Mercedes, but he still had this constant ache in his general chest area. Sometimes it caused him to cough as if he had been smoking for years, sometimes it just... hurt. Other times he could pretend like it wasn't even there. But it was. And after about a month it was starting to get hard to ignore.

"I think you should talk to Blaine," she said one day, and Sam almost coughed up his entire lunch. She waited for his cough attack to end before putting her hand over his, "I'm serious. I think... I think you guys not talking is why you're constantly sick."

Sam gave her a disbelieving look and she rolled her eyes, "Listen, I know we haven't been friends for long, but I can tell that there's something wrong. And I know we weren't friends, but I still saw you around the halls and... well, there was just something different about you when you were friends with Blaine. Like... you seem like you have something constantly weighing you down. You just seemed... freer when you and him were friends."

Sam was about to argue, but he knew she was right. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"I hate it when you're right," he mumbled. She laughed and he felt happy. He always seemed to feel happy whenever she laughed.

"Get used to it." He could hear the smirk in her voice. He looked up at her and grinned.

"Oh? And why might I do that?" he asked and she giggled. He leaned closer to her and he noticed when her breath hitched. It made his own do the same.

"Because... If we're going to be friends..." he kept leaning closer, and he noticed her eyes glancing at his lips.

"And who said I wanted to be friends with you?" he whispered. She looked up into his eyes, which were barely an inch apart from her own.

"I just assumed with all the hanging out and..."

"Shut up," he said before he leaned in that final inch and pressed his lips to hers.

xxx

He felt strange standing in front of Blaine's house, as if he were standing there for the first time ready to ring their doorbell and ask if they would like to buy some girl scout cookies.

He shook his head, reminding himself that this was the Andersons. This was Blaine. He took a deep breath and walked up to his ex-best friend's house and rung the doorbell. He was surprised when Mr. Anderson answered.

"Sam!" he said, a smile appearing on his face, "What a nice surprise! We haven't seen you around in so long! Come in, come in!" Sam did just that, quickly taking of his shoes and placing them neatly beside a pair of converse that he recognized as Blaine's, "Blaine's in his room."

Sam nodded. "Thank you Mr. Anderson. And you're right, it's been too long," he smiled at Blaine's dad who smiled back before stepping out of his way so that he could make his way to Blaine's room. When he got there he was unsurprised to find that the door was closed; Blaine was always sort of private when it came to his room.

He considered just walking in like he normally did, but considering the circumstances he decided that knocking would probably be better.

"Come in," he heard Blaine call, and he sounded exactly the same as he had a month ago and why had he waited a month to do this?

He opened the door cautiously and as soon as he stepped into the room he was hit with a wave of pure Blaine. How had he never noticed this particular smell before? It smelled like home.

Blaine turned to look at him, obviously expecting one of his parents, but froze when he saw who it was.

Sam awkwardly ran a hand through his hair. "Uh... hey," he smiled, but Blaine didn't smile back.

"What are you doing here?" he asked coldly. Sam winced at how obviously pissed Blaine still was at him. But he guessed he deserved it.

"Apologizing," he said taking a step into the room and shutting the door behind him. Blaine stared at him for a few seconds, obviously seething before he stood up and walked over to Sam.

The last thing on his mind was that Blaine might possibly punch him in the face. But that was exactly what he did.

"What the hell?" he asked looking down at Blaine, but his anger disappeared completely when he noticed that Blaine was tearing up.

"Apologizing? _Apologizing_? You don't talk to me for an entire month and you think you can just show up here and apologize and everything is just going to be fine and dandy?"

Sam bit his lip, because really, he hated seeing Blaine cry, and that was exactly what he was doing. "Well... I hoped," he shrugged and Blaine shook his head and made to punch him again. This time Sam was expecting it though, so he dodged easily.

"Do you have any idea how much you hurt me Sam? Do you?" The tears were flowing down Blaine's face as if he'd been holding them in for years. Sam sighed and fought the urge to bring a hand up to his jaw which was sure to bruise.

"No. I don't," he said simply, locking his eyes on Blaine's, "But I want you to know that I'm sorry. I'm beyond sorry. I am so beyond sorry it's not even funny. What I said to you was cruel. It wasn't fair, you didn't deserve it, and I can never apologize enough for that."

Blaine shook his head and began wiping his tears with the palm of his hand. "Why?" he looked up at Sam and the way those hazel eyes were swimming in tears, the pain he could see in them, broke his heart, "Why did you say it? Why would you even think..."

"Because," he had mentally prepared what he was going to say when Blaine asked him why he had basically called him a slut, because he knew Blaine, and he knew that he would ask, but now that he was in the heat of the moment he couldn't seem to remember what he had wanted to say, "Because for so long I've been the most important person in your life. And I didn't like the idea of sharing that title."

Blaine stared at him for a few more seconds, not blinking as tears fell down his face. He let out a half-groan half-irritated scream and collapsed on his bed, burying his head in his hands as he literally sobbed. Sam stood there for a few seconds before sitting down beside him. He wanted to comfort him. So. Bad. But he knew it would be too soon. Plus, he was the cause of Blaine's current pain (that fact hurt him more than his face) so he wasn't sure if it would even be appropriate. Eventually Blaine spoke.

"I don't understand," he said quietly, "I told myself I wouldn't do this. I told myself I would be strong, that I wouldn't just... just forgive you as if nothing happened but... God, Sam, why the hell can't I stay mad at you?"

Sam smiled, and so did Blaine, "Because you love me?"

And Blaine laughed, and suddenly that constant ache in his chest was gone. His smile widened to almost impossible proportions and Blaine just continued to laugh through his tears.

"We can't ever do this again," he said when he stopped laughing, wiping more tears. "Ever. I don't think I'd survive another fight like this one."

"Agreed. It was horrible," and his brain told him to shut and not mention this, but he just didn't seem to be able to help it and before he knew it he had blurted out. "I was literally in physical pain the entire time you weren't talking to me."

Blaine's eyes widened and Sam felt himself blush. "Uh... I didn't mean to tell you that..."

Blaine laughed awkwardly and Sam noticed that Blaine was blushing too, that beautiful pink flooding his cheeks up to his cheekbones, making him look even more beautiful than he normally...

_Whoa._

Where did that come from?

"See you just... you say stuff like that and..." he sighed and then looked up into Sam's eyes. "You realize that I'm not breaking up with Jeremiah right?"

Sam nodded, even though he suddenly felt like burning something (preferably all of the hair on Jeremiah's stupid hipster head). He knew he would have to live with the knowledge that Blaine was with Jeremiah if he wanted to be friends with Blaine.

He decided that it was more than worth it.

xxx

Sam thought he was doing really well with the whole Jeremiah situation, he had let Blaine know that he wouldn't be spending any time with the boyfriend, but he would never openly insult Jeremiah in front of Blaine or say anything similar to what he had said what felt like ages ago. It obviously bothered him that Blaine was with that idiot, but he had realized a long time ago that if he wanted to continue being friends with Blaine, Jeremiah was part of it. And he very much wanted to continue being friends with Blaine.

The only problem was that Jeremiah kept doing things that pissed him off. At some point he decided that the twenty year-old must have been leaving obvious hickeys just so Sam would see them on Blaine's neck and see red. He never said anything though.

Until the day after Blaine turned seventeen.

It was mid May, they were almost done their junior year, and the summer was so close that Sam could almost taste it. He was excited to spend the entire summer hanging out with his awesome best friend and his absolutely amazing girlfriend and all of his other friends and just... it was going to be awesome.

He was thinking about how awesome it was going to be and talking about it to Santana and Quinn (who he still spoke to occasionally, even though Santana was his ex-girlfriend and Quinn was Finn's) when Blaine walked by, looking like he was, once again on cloud nine.

But it was different than the time Jeremiah had kissed him for the first time. He just seemed... Sam couldn't even place it. But he knew that he had looked like that once, too. Once, back in his freshman year. And Sam didn't even want to think of the possibility that Blaine looked like that for the same reason that Sam had looked like that.

But there was an obvious hitch in his step, and he seemed to wince every time he moved his legs.

_No. Nonononononononononononono they didn't... there's no way..._

"Get some Anderson!" yelled Santana, and Blaine turned towards them, his face bright red.

"Uh... what?" he asked, even though his face gave away that he knew exactly what she was talking abut.

"Oh please, like you don't know what I'm talking about," she winked at him. "It's about time though."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Your mind has a permanent residence in the gutter. Really, he might have fallen down some stairs or..."

"Taken it up the—"

Sam couldn't listen anymore. He ran away from the two girls and his once-again best friend, trying to hold down the bile that had suddenly occupied his throat. He made it to the closest bathroom, got into the nearest stall and threw up his breakfast. He knew it shouldn't have affected him that much, after all, it was normal. Couples had sex all the time. He and Santana had sex back in freshman year and he and Mercedes... well, they were definitely getting there. So why did it literally make him sick to his stomach to think of Jeremiah doing that with Blaine... taking something so precious from him...

"Sam?" he quickly flushed the toilet and straightened up, walking calmly towards the sinks and taking a long drink of water. Blaine watched him silently, obviously trying to asses if this was his fault or not.

"Are you okay?" he asked, placing a hand on Sam's back. Sam nodded, continuing to wash his mouth out with water. He was pretty sure Rachel had some mouthwash... he would ask as soon as he could.

"Yeah I just... must have eaten something bad for breakfast or something..."

Blaine pursed his lips, and started stroking Sam's back soothingly. "Alright. You want me to take you to the nurses office?"

Sam was about to say no, but suddenly an image came into his head of Blaine and Jeremiah, in Jeremiah's apartment, both naked with Blaine under Jeremiah and...

He ran back into the stall and promptly threw up again. When he came out he simply nodded, and allowed Blaine to lead him to the nurse.

Sam had to say honestly that he was surprised that Blaine and Jeremiah were still together by the time the two boys started their senior year. He was sure that Jeremiah only wanted one thing out of Blaine, and now that he had taken it...

No, he still refused to think about that. He had finally managed to stop bringing up everything in his stomach whenever he thought about Blaine and Jeremiah... doing things... but it still made him feel like he was going to, so he tried as hard as possible not to think about those kinds of things.

"We should go to OSU," declared Blaine as they walked into school sometime in October. Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Should we?"

"Yeah," Blaine said confidently. "I mean, it's sort of always been in the plan to go to Uni together, right?" They had, indeed, been talking about that since they were about five. "And I mean, it's close by, so we don't have to move far away or anything..."

"What happened to UCLA? I thought that's what we decided on?"

Blaine flushed adorably (and really? He hadn't thought of Blaine as adorable, beautiful, gorgeous, perfect or anything similar for at least three hours. He thought he had been doing really well) and worried his bottom lip with his teeth. "Well I just... you know... it's so far away and..."

"Jeremiah," reality hit him like a ton of bricks, "You want to go to OSU because that's where Jeremiah goes."

"Well... I mean, no, they have a very good law program and..."

"Blaine. Be straight with me. Or don't," Blaine smacked him on the arm, scowling and Sam just chuckled before becoming serious again. "Do you honestly want to go to OSU? Or do you still want to try for UCLA?"

Blaine sighed, "I don't know Sam... I mean, UCLA has always been my top choice but... just the thought of being so far away from him is..."

Sam wanted to scream _But you'd still have me!_ But he refrained, simply because a pair of freshmen where looking at them and they might get freaked out. He decided to just play it safe.

"Yeah, you're right. I mean... I don't really want to go too far away from Mercedes..." that was a lie, and he was pretty sure both of them knew it. Mercedes had been gone for half the summer to some singing camp with Rachel and they both decided that they were going to achieve their dreams of being stars and that nothing, and that included guys, would stand in their way. Apparently, at the moment, Sam was standing in her way, and it wasn't really doing good things to their relationship.

"Yeah... Just... think about it, okay?" Blaine looked up at him with those giant, beautiful (wow, he really couldn't even go two minutes without thinking that kind of stuff about Blaine) hazel eyes and he felt his resolve melting. Yeah, Blaine definitely had him wrapped around his finger.

xxx

"So I heard you and Aretha broke up," Sam turned to see Santana sit down beside him. He shrugged, going back to his homework. He rarely used the school library, but when he did it was because he wanted to get work done. Obviously his ex-girlfriend had other plans.

"Wasn't working out," he mumbled, and sure, he was a little bummed that him and Mercedes hadn't worked but at the same time he felt... well, relieved. It was strange. Like he was glad to be single. That hadn't happened after he broke up with Santana.

"Horrible, truly. So, I was thinking, now that you're unattached, why don't you and I get back together?" she raised an eyebrow and he did the same.

"Are you serious right now?"

"Sure am," she replied, shrugging, "I mean, why not right? You're hot, I'm hot, the sex was awesome... it makes sense."

He stared at her for a few seconds before shaking his head, "No way."

"Sorry?"

"I said no way Santana. Look, I appreciate the offer, but I think I wanna fly solo for a while."

She set her jaw and straightened up in her chair, "Sammy, honey..."

"No, Santana! I don't want to get back together with you!"

She sighed, "You know I really didn't want to do this," she said, sounding as if he was forcing her to do something horrible.

"So don't?"

"No, I want to get back together. I just didn't want to have to resort to blackmailing to do so."

"What the hell? Blackmail? Are you serious right now? What could you possibly have on me that would make me consider dating you again?"

"I know you're in love with Anderson."

He felt as if suddenly all air had left his body. His eyes widened and his heart started beating faster.

In love?

With Blaine?

No, he wasn't in love with Blaine. Blaine was his best friend. They were really close, and he was the most important person in his life, but he was a guy. And Sam was straight. As in he liked girls. Not guys. Not Blaine.

But then he thought about how he been constantly irritated ever since Blaine and Jeremiah started dating, how he felt as if he had a constant splinter under his fingernail that he just couldn't get out. And the thought of Blaine and Jeremiah doing anything other than kissing had made him throw up for almost two weeks. Hell, he was considering giving up his dream school just so Blaine could go to school with his freaking boyfriend and...

Shit.

Sam was in love with Blaine.

"What... how?" he asked. Santana laughed.

"I saw the realization in your eyes. You just figured it out yourself, huh?" she grinned and Sam just shook his head.

"But... I don't understand... I'm straight! I've never been attracted to guys in my life! How... why..."

"Someone doesn't have to be a specific gender for you to love them. You just do. Don't question it, just go with it. Now, about getting back together..."

"I said no Santana. And don't even try that 'if you don't I'll tell everyone crap'"

"It's not crap. I will tell everyone."

Sam leaned towards her, "No you won't," she raised an eyebrow, asking him to give her one good reason why she shouldn't, "Because if you do, I'll tell everyone that you're in love with Brittany."

The Latina stared at him, her eyes wide in a how-the-hell-did-you-know kind of way. Sam smirked to himself, stood up, picked up all his books and stuffed them in his backpack. Before he left he whispered, "Keep my secret and I'll keep yours," and then he walked away, very pointedly not looking back.

xxx

Honestly, he was sure that realizing that he was in love with his male best friend would be more difficult. He remembered how scared Blaine had been when he had figured out he was gay and how he had sobbed into Sam's arms for what had felt like hours. He had guessed that for him it would be the same but it hadn't been at all.

Maybe it was just because for him it was just Blaine, and for Blaine it was guys in general. Because if Sam was honest, the thought of seeing another guy naked and actually getting off on it was... well... weird. And completely unappealing.

But when he thought about _Blaine_ naked...

The only problem was that he wasn't seeing Blaine naked. Jeremiah was.

Jeremiah.

Or as Sam had started calling him in his mind, Public Enemy Number One.

With his apartment, and his maturity and his experience and... God, how could Sam even compete? Why in the world would Blaine ever leave Jeremiah, the guy he had admitted to being in love with far more times than was necessary (at least in Sam's opinion) for his best friend, who didn't even realize he was in love with him until it was far too late. Not that it would have mattered anyway.

Sam suddenly found himself remembering that God-awful time the year before when he had said those awful things to Blaine and then Rachel had mentioned...

Pining.

Blaine had liked someone before Jeremiah. If Sam could find out who that was, then he could figure out Blaine's type. Or if he even had a type, because some people apparently didn't. Take him for example. Santana, Mercedes and Blaine had absolutely nothing in common. And yet he had been equally attracted to all of them—although if he was being honest he found Blaine more attractive than both of his ex-girlfriends—so maybe it was possible that Blaine would go for someone who was basically the polar opposite of his current boyfriend.

Meaning Sam.

He decided the first person he would ask would be Rachel. She was a blabber mouth, and really couldn't be told anything. He knew she was his best bet.

xxx

"Hey Rachel!"

Rachel turned around, obviously surprised that he was talking to her. She stopped walking and waited for him to catch up.

"Hey Sam. What's uh... what's up?"

"Well, I was just thinking, you and I never seem to talk! You know just, one-on-one like this. Don't you think that's horrible?"

"I'm in love with Finn," she replied haughtily and really, the fact that she could even think that Sam wanted to talk to her because he liked her was laughable, but he decided not to laugh, seeing as that would probably piss her off and a pissed-off girl never talks.

Well, depends on the pissed-off girl.

"Right. Okay, cards on the table. Remember like, a year ago when Blaine and I had like, the fight of the century?" Rachel nodded slowly. "Right, well, you mentioned something that's kinda been bugging me for a while and I was wondering if maybe you could tell me..."

"I'm not telling you who Blaine liked before Jeremiah," she said firmly. Sam's eyes widened.

"How...?" "Listen Sam, if Blaine wants to tell you, he'll tell you. But no going behind his back and asking his friends, because that's disrespecting his privacy, and honestly I thought you were better than that."

She walked away before he had a chance to respond and he sighed. So Rachel apparently could keep a secret better than he thought.

Fine, he would play it her way.

xxx

Studying alone with Blaine in his room had become an emotional rollercoaster ever since he discovered his feelings for the other boy. Really, he was sure that someone shouldn't be allowed to make him so happy and yet so miserable at the same time.

He looked up from where he was lying on Blaine's bed (Blaine's _bed_. And he was expected to study!) to study the boy that seemed to have the ability to make or break his day with one word. He was lying on the floor, chewing on the edge of his pen, and God, Sam wished he could be that pen. His eyelashes caressed his cheekbones every time he blinked, how had he never noticed how long they were before? And his hair, so curly and soft looking, Sam really just wanted to run his hands through it. And his lips? Dear God, Sam could write novels about Blaine's lips. How perfect they were, how full, how pink, how soft they looked, how he spent every second of every day wondering what it would feel like to have those lips on his...

And suddenly Sam hated Jeremiah more than ever. Because all of those things about Blaine that he loved? He wasn't allowed to touch them. Only look. Sometimes he could get a pretty close look but... the right to touch was reserved for Jeremiah.

And for the first time in the entire year that Blaine and Jeremiah had been together, Sam recognized the feeling of wanting to punch something for what it was—jealousy. And not the typical best friend 'You spend more time with him than me!'-jealousy. No, this was full blown 'I wish you would die so I could take your place'-jealousy.

"So Rachel mentioned something interesting a while back," he said, trying to keep his voice calm. Blaine looked up at him through his lashes and Sam almost forgot what he was going to say. Blaine smiled up at him.

"Really? Well, Rachel tends to mention lots of interesting things."

Sam nodded, trying to focus on what he was saying, "Yeah, well, this one really piqued my interest."

Blaine raised an eyebrow, "Do tell."

"Well, she happened to mention that... Jeremiah wasn't the first guy that you had a crush on."

Blaine's eyes widened and his smile disappeared and Sam was pretty sure that his jaw dropped a bit. "She did what?"

Sam waved it away as if it were nothing, "She was just saying that apparently you had been pining over some guy for quite some time before Jeremiah."

Blaine scoffed, "Well, pining sounds so desperate..."

"Did the guy know you liked him?"

Blaine blushed, "No."

"Did he like you back?"

Blaine's blush darkened, "No..."

"Sorry babe, you were pining."

"Babe?"

Now it was Sam's turn to blush, "Don't change the subject!"

Blaine sighed, "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"Just one thing," Sam leaned closer to Blaine as if he was telling him a secret and Blaine played along, putting his ear up to Sam's mouth. Sam resisted the urge to bite it, "Who was it?"

He pulled away slowly and noticed that Blaine had gone completely pale, the blush disappearing from his cheeks as if it had never been there.

"She uh... she didn't tell you?" Sam shook his head and Blaine let out a deep breath, "Look, Sam, it was a long time ago, it was misguided and..."

"So, a straight guy," Sam deduced. Blaine bit his lip (why was he _doing_ that? Couldn't he see that it drove Sam insane?)

"Yeah..."

"Are you going to tell me or do I have to keep guessing?"

Blaine gave him a small smile, "None of the above?"

"Alright, so I obviously know him," Blaine rolled his eyes at that as if to say 'obviously', "Oh God, it wasn't Puck, was it? Or Finn? Oh my God, it was Finn!"

Blaine laughed and that was enough to calm Sam down from his impending panic attack.

"No, Sam, it wasn't Finn. Look just... forget about it, okay?"

Sam pouted, "Come on? Please? I thought we were the bestest of best friends! Don't bestest best friends tell each other everything?" he felt slightly hypocritical saying this, considering he was keeping a pretty huge secret from Blaine at the moment, but he chose not to think about that.

"Well, yeah, but this was just... I mean, it could make things very awkward, he was the reason why I started wondering if I was gay and I liked him for a really long time... even when I was still dating Jeremiah and just... Can we not talk about it?"

Sam thought about it for a second before realizing something, "You still like him!" and really, saying it out loud had been worse than thinking it in his head, because now that was two guys that were ahead of him for Blaine's affection and, dammit, that just made him want to cry.

"What! No!" his defensive tone gave him away immediately. Yeah, Blaine definitely still liked this guy. He cursed whoever it was to whatever rotten place Jeremiah would be going after he died.

He stared at Blaine for a few seconds, allowing himself to get lost in those amazing eyes before shrugging, "Whatever. If you don't want to tell me that's fine, I know you won't tell me if you don't want to so I'm giving up before I get too worked up."

Blaine seemed to sag in relief before going back to his homework. Sam couldn't help but feel Blaine staring at him every once in a while, and for those few seconds Sam didn't care about Jeremiah or Mystery Guy. Because in those moments he knew that he was the only thing on Blaine's mind. And really, it was a wonderful feeling.

xxx

"Sam! Hello, I wasn't expecting you today!" Sam smiled at Mr. Anderson as he toed out of his shoes.

"Yeah, well, Stevie's sea-monkeys had babies so... I felt the need to come over and tell Blaine," he shrugged and Mr. Anderson laughed.

"You kids are crazy. Go on up, although fair warning, he's got company," and Mr. Anderson made a look that looked very much like what Sam looked like when he was thinking about Jeremiah and Blaine together. He guessed it was probably Rachel, who was annoying to all who hadn't known her for longer than a month. Actually, he hoped it was Rachel, because he wasn't sure if he'd be able to stomach walking in on Blaine and Jeremiah going at it.

As he got closer to his best friends room he realized that yeah, that was definitely Jeremiah in there with Blaine and no, they were _not_ going at it. By the sounds of it, they were doing the complete opposite of going at it.

He stopped in front of Blaine's door, considering just walking in, but he realized he could hear what they were saying, and he knew it would be rude to interrupt something that was so obviously important anyway, so he decided to just stand outside the door and wait for their 'conversation' to end.

"Look Blaine, I understand you having male friends, I have those too! But with him it's different!" Sam's heart sped up at Jeremiah's tone. It was cold and angry, making it obvious that this wasn't just a regular conversation. This was a fight.

Blaine and Jeremiah were fighting.

That gave him an odd feeling of satisfaction.

"How. Please, explain to me how it's different! Because as far as I'm concerned you and Travis are _much_ closer than he and I will ever be..." Blaine was screaming. That wasn't a good sign; Blaine barely ever screamed, and when he did it was because he was pissed. Like, really pissed.

"Oh come on Blaine, that's bullshit and you know it."

"Is it? Because I don't understand why it isn't okay for me not to like the fact that you hang out with a guy that you used to fuck but it's fine for you to want me to stop hanging out with-!"

"I was never in love with Travis! That's the difference! That's why I hate it when you talk about him, I hate the way you get so perky suddenly, like just the thought of that... that..."

"That _what_, Jeremiah?" Blaine's voice was completely laced with venom. Sam actually shivered at just the thought of Blaine ever speaking to him like that. He knew his best friend must be looking absolutely murderous.

"That... that...what he is is not the point! The point is that you were in fucking love with that loser for over two years! Actually, I'm pretty sure you still are. And I really am not enjoying playing second fiddle!"

Their voices had been getting louder, but at Jeremiah's last comment they both fell completely silent. Sam could feel his heart racing in his chest, and he really knew he shouldn't be listening because this was private but dammit he just needed a name. That was all he needed. As soon as either said the name of who Blaine was in love with he would leave and wait for them to calm down.

Sam could hear heavy breathing from within the room, which meant that they had obviously been fighting for a while. He leaned in closer to the door, not wanting to miss what Blaine said next.

"A," Sam felt a chill run down his spine at how calm Blaine's voice was, "He is not a loser," why the hell were neither of them using names, "B, you're not playing second fiddle because in case you haven't noticed, you're my boyfriend, not him!"

"Blaine. Yes, I'm your boyfriend. Yes, I love you. Yes, you love me," Sam felt a huge wave of jealousy rush over him, "But be honest with me. If he ever showed any interest in you in that way, would you stay with me?"

Sam held his breath. He knew he shouldn't be hoping so hard that Blaine would tell Jeremiah that he would always pick Mystery Guy, because really, how did that help him at all? He would still always be second choice to whoever it was that Blaine loved. If he was even a choice at all.

"Jeremiah..." Blaine started slowly, and Sam could tell that he was crying. He heard a humourless laugh that he guessed was Jeremiah.

"It's fine. I get it."

"No, Jeremiah! Don't leave! Please, I want to be with you!" Sam's heart clenched. There was silent for a few more seconds.

"But you want to be with him more. If he said one word you would drop me. I can't... I love you Blaine. I love you more than you can imagine. But I can't be with you knowing that you'll always love him more."

"No, no that's not true! I don't love him anymore, please, Jeremiah, don't leave!" Sam jumped back quickly as the door swung open. Thankfully neither Blaine nor Jeremiah saw him, so he quickly ran to the edge of the stairs to make it look like he was just coming up.

_I want to be with you._

_I don't love him anymore._

Why did Sam feel like someone had punched him when Blaine said that? That was good! Because then Blaine could fall in love with Sam.

He could see a bit of Jeremiah's body, half out of the room, half still in. He had his hand on the doorknob and his torso was slightly turned to face his boyfriend. Or was it ex-boyfriend? Sam's heart leaped at that thought.

"Blaine..." Jeremiah let go of the doorknob and turned around completely to face Blaine, "I can't do this anymore. I just can't. Do you even know how it feels? To know that your boyfriend is only with you because his straight..." Jeremiah seemed to swallow thickly at this, and it only just occurred to Sam that maybe this fight was also affecting the older man, "_Friend,_" he practically spat the word out, "Will never love him? Do you have any idea what it feels like to know that you're someone's second choice, that they're just settling for you because they can't have who they really want?" Sam could hear Blaine crying from inside his room. Jeremiah let go of the door handle and took a step into the room, "I just can't do this anymore Blaine."

He started to turn around, and Sam saw Blaine's hand reach out to grab his arm. His best friend came into view, and Sam saw that Blaine looked absolutely wrecked. As if every bit of him was crawling up into a hole and dying. Sam wanted more than anything to kiss those tears away, to pull Blaine into his arms and never let him go.

"Please... Jeremiah don't... I lov-"

"Don't say it," the taller man said. Blaine nodded silently, the tears continuing to fall down his face. Jeremiah paused for a second before saying so quietly that Sam barely heard him, "Have you told Sam?"

His heart skipped a beat at his own name. He leaned forward slightly, hoping to hear and see better. Blaine head had snapped up towards his (ex?)boyfriend, his eyes wide, and then slowly looked down at his feet and shook his head slowly.

"No," he choked out. Jeremiah pursed his lips.

"You should."

Blaine shook his head slowly, "No..." he whispered, "I can't," he practically breathed the last two words, and Sam probably wouldn't have heard him if he hadn't leaned forward just a bit further.

"You should," repeated Jeremiah.

"I can't lose him again," was Blaine's answer. Jeremiah sighed.

"You might not. He might understand."

Blaine didn't respond and after about thirty seconds Jeremiah hesitantly pulled Blaine towards him and pressed a kiss to his temple. A long kiss. Like a seriously long kiss. Sam's fingernails were pressed into his palms by the time Jeremiah pulled away.

"I'll see you around, all right Blaine?"

Sam decided that this was his cue, so he yelled out, "Hey Blaine! Guess what Stevie's sea-monkeys did!" and yeah, maybe his voice was a little shaky, but that was allowed because he was sort of really happy right now. Sure, he wasn't glad that Blaine was suffering over this, but he had broken up with Jeremiah (at least that's what he got from their exchange) and that meant he was single, even if he was still in love with Mystery Guy and, "Oh, Jeremiah, hey, I didn't know you would be here!"

Jeremiah looked him over, looked back at Blaine who shook his head, clapped him on the shoulder and then walked past Sam and down the stairs. Sam watched him go before turning towards Blaine. He forced himself not to smile when he wrapped his arms around his best friend and whispered, "Hey, what's wrong?"

xxx

That night he flopped onto his bed, completely emotionally drained. He had held Blaine for literally hours, allowing his best friend to cry into his shoulder about how Jeremiah didn't understand, and that he did love him, that it wasn't his fault that his stupid feelings for Mystery Guy wouldn't go away. And all Sam had been able to do was stroke his back and sometimes pull him closer and tell him that everything would be alright.

With Blaine he had put up a front, he became the helpful best friend that would see Blaine through thick and thin, help him, console him, swear to him that everything would be okay.

But by himself, lying in his bed, he finally allowed the tears to fall. He turned around so his face was buried in a pillow and hugged said pillow close to him, hoping it would mask the sounds of his ridiculous sobbing.

He hurt. His heart hurt, and no matter how lame it sounded it was true. He remembered breaking up with Santana and how painful that had been, but it was nothing compared to this.

_So this is what heartbroken feels like he_ thought to himself as he curled into a fetal position. He clutched his pillow like a lifeline and simply cried for what felt like hours.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Pining after his best friend had never been a part of the plan.

Well, he had never really had a plan. But even if he had, falling in love with Blaine wouldn't have been a part of it.

"Sam?" he heard his mother ask tentatively from the hallway. He tried to ignore her, but she didn't let up, "Sam, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he replied, his voice shaky and his face still buried in his pillow. He heard the door open and a few seconds later he felt the bed dip and then his mother's hand on his shoulder.

"Sam... you know you can talk to me right? Is this about Mercedes, because..."

He sat up, shrugging her hand off him in the process, and turned towards her, bringing his pillow with him and clutching it to his chest tightly.

"No... I... Blaine broke up with his boyfriend," his mother raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that's horrible, but it doesn't explain why _you're_ crying."

Before he knew it Sam had his arms wrapped tightly around his mom and he was crying into her shoulder as she held him tightly, exactly the same way Sam had been holding Blaine earlier.

"It's... it shouldn't hurt this much mom..."

"Shh..." she whispered, pressing a kiss to his head and rubbing her hands over his back, "It's okay honey..."

The action only made him cry harder, "I'm not gay," he whispered, and his mother tensed. It was only a second and then she was pulling him even closer.

"I know you aren't sweetie," she whispered. He whimpered.

"No I... I'm not gay but... it's Blaine... just Blaine..." and he wasn't able to say anything else as he buried himself in his mother's familiar scent and allowed her to just hold him.


	3. Part 3

**Title**: Love Can Wait  
><strong>Author<strong>: pukaroxliza  
><strong>Rating<strong>: T, maybe slight R?  
><strong>CharactersPairing**: Sam/Blaine with a side of every other pairing/character under the Glee sun.  
><strong>Chapter<strong>: 3/3  
><strong>Word Count:<strong> 24000+ (about 6000 for this part)  
><strong>Spoilers<strong>: Season 2?  
><strong>Warnings<strong>: AU, mentions of sex and sex dreams, nothing explicit; loads of crying and obliviousness.  
><strong>Summary<strong>: "Why?" asked Blaine as he did what Sam asked. "Well, 'cause you're my favourite thing that I like!" Some say that children know more than grown-ups. Sam can honestly say, from first hand experience, that this is 100% true.  
><strong>Authors Note<strong>: Last chapter. Hope you enjoyed (:  
>A special thank you to Loki Firefox who so kindly beta-ed this piece, and also gave me the sweetest and most amazing feedback as he read it (:<br>**Disclaimer**: I do not own Glee

It took Blaine about a month before he was able to say Jeremiah's name without bursting into tears. It took him two months to start being able to joke about his past relationship. After three months Blaine mentioned a cute guy at the movies and Sam knew he had his best friend back. His heart had been slowly breaking over seeing how long it took Blaine to get over the hipster, and it was still horrible to think that no matter how hard he tried he would never be more than a friend to Blaine, but in the three months it took Blaine to get over Jeremiah he had allowed himself to get used to the idea. It wasn't his first choice, but he knew that he would rather see Blaine happy with someone else than unhappy with him.

It was around the same time that he realized this that his and Blaine's university letters came. Both had applied to OSU because of Blaine's insistence on going to school with Jeremiah even if it were only for a year, but Sam had insisted that they apply to UCLA anyway.

Both received acceptance letters from both universities. Both threw the OSU letter in the garbage the second they read it.

xxx

Graduation was growing nearer and nearer, and Sam found himself becoming increasingly anxious. Not only was he freaking out about his grades, which had never been the best because of his dyslexia (how did he get into UCLA again?), but his parents had found him and Blaine a small townhouse in L.A. with a reasonable rent, which meant that this was really happening. He was leaving Ohio and moving in with his best friend. Who he was in love with. Who was in love with someone else.

He wasn't sure whether to hate his life or love it.

xxx

Sam didn't really believe that he'd managed to graduate until he was off the stage with a diploma in his hands and Blaine's arms around his neck. He quickly hugged his best friend back, thinking for one insane second that maybe if he pulled back a bit then Blaine would do the same and maybe he could simply kiss those beautiful lips that completely haunted his dreams, but before he got the chance Blaine had already pulled away and was talking about how excited he was that they were finally done, and how yeah, he'd miss McKinley, but they were going to _UCLA_ and they were going together and this was going to be so amazing and he couldn't wait till August when they moved up to L.A.

Sam just laughed and slung an arm around Blaine's shoulders, because he was right. They were going to L.A. And they were going to live together.

So really, Sam had all the time in the world.

xxx

"We have too much stuff," announced Blaine as he helped his brother and Sam unload his brother's truck. Sam chuckled and rolled his eyes, even though his heart had jolted when Blaine had said 'we'. He couldn't help but smile lovingly at Blaine as he put his hands on his hips and looked around, his eyes landing on Sam and a shy small creeping onto his face, along with a faint blush, "What?"

Sam shrugged and bent down to pick up an already unloaded box and started heading towards the entrance to their house, "Nothing. I'm just really happy that we aren't going to OSU."

Blaine's blush deepened as he mumbled, "Me too," before turning back to help his brother with getting the rest of the boxes out of the truck.

About two hours later Blaine's brother had gone back to his home in San Francisco after the three had gotten a quick bite to eat, and Blaine and Sam had returned to their apartment to start unpacking boxes and setting up furniture.

The first things they decided to put together were the beds and a table, then they cleared some boxes (Blaine once again complaining about how much junk they seemed to own between the two of them) so they could put the couch, that Blaine's brother had so kindly provided for them, in the middle of the living room. They then crashed on the couch for about ten minutes before pulling the box closest to them towards them and starting to sort through it.

Both ended up with boxes full of Sam's stuff. The box Sam had was basically just clothing, so he grabbed it and took it to his new room, dropped it carelessly on the bed, and then went back out to continue helping Blaine with opening boxes.

When he walked back into the living room he found Blaine staring at a piece of paper that he held tightly in his hand. Instantly panic seized Sam, wondering what Blaine could have possibly found. He quickly ran over to his best friend and snatched the paper out of his hands. He read it quickly, a deep feeling of relief spreading through him as he saw that it was just his 'What I Like' list from when he was eight. He sat down on the couch, placing the paper lightly on his lap before turning towards Blaine.

"Sorry about that..." he muttered, rubbing a hand over the nape of his neck self-consciously. His heart gave a jolt when his eyes connected with Blaine's, noticing for the first time that the shorter teen had tears in his eyes. He suddenly felt really bad for having practically ripped the paper out of his hands.

Blaine opened his mouth, then closed it, then repeated the action several times before finally speaking, "You still have that?" his voice sounded scratchy and raw. Sam raised an eyebrow, slightly confused.

"Yeah... I don't know why... I mean, you probably think I'm really stupid but..."

Blaine shook his head, sniffling and then laughing slightly, "Not stupid. God Sam, you're not stupid."

And then before he could react Blaine had leaned forward and capture his lips in a tentative kiss.

Sam's heart soared, loving the feeling of _finally_ having Blaine's lips on his, and his brain seemed to have short circuited because all he could think of was _Blaine, Blaine, Blaine_ and all of his senses were full of Blaine, and nothing else in the world mattered because it was him and Blaine and nothing had ever felt more right in his entire life and...

And Blaine was pulling back.

All Sam wanted to do was grab Blaine's face and pull him back in for another kiss. Now that he had discovered what it was like to kiss Blaine he felt like he never wanted to do anything else ever again.

Instead he let him go, allowed him to move away from him on the couch. Blaine's eyes were wide with fear and unshed tears. He swallowed and Sam watched his Adam's apple bob before swallowing himself.

Sam's mind and heart were racing. A thousand questions bombarded him, questions he knew he didn't have the answer for. _Was that an accident? Did he realize that I'm in love with him and decided to take pity on me by throwing me a bone? Was it a spur of the moment thing that he now regretted? Am_ I_ the Mystery Guy he's in love with?_

He didn't allow himself to entertain the last one. He had already accepted that he would always be Blaine's best friend, nothing more, nothing less, and thinking about the possibility of Blaine returning the feelings was honestly sort of painful.

"Blaine..." he started slowly, his voice low and rough. Blaine shook his head.

"I'm sorry Sam..." he said, standing up. "I shouldn't have done that... Oh God, that was... why did you do that Blaine...?" by that point Sam assumed he was talking to himself. He sighed and then went to stand up, but Blaine stopped him, "No. Don't Sam. I don't want to hear it. Just... forget that just happened, okay? I shouldn't have done that. God, why did I do that?"

Sam bit his lip, feeling the tears welling up in his eyes. He nodded. So Blaine didn't love him. It was just a spur of the moment thing. Blaine regretted it. Blaine regretted kissing him.

Sam stood up and grabbed a box. "I'm taking this to my room," he said, hoping that his voice didn't give away just how affected he was about what had just happened. Blaine nodded and went towards another box, making sure that this one had his name on it. Sam turned to look at Blaine before entering his new room, and he found his best friend looking up at him too, his eyes swimming with tears and one rolling down his cheek.

And then Sam was angry. He slammed his door shut behind him and practically threw the box onto the floor.

Blaine was crying. Blaine. Was. Crying.

What gave him the fucking right to cry? Sam was the one whose heart had just been shattered into a million pieces. Sam was the one who had put up with Blaine being with Jeremiah even though it killed him. Sam was the one who had stood by Blaine's side after his break-up. Sam was in love with him. And Blaine was crying?

He paused for a second to take a deep breath and collect his thoughts. Blaine had just kissed him. And then apologized for doing so. Blaine had kissed him. Blaine regretted kissing him. Blaine... kiss...

Before he could stop himself he had pounded his fists against the wall, and then he was letting himself fall down that same wall and curl up into himself on the ground, finally letting the tears fall.

xxx

Things were awkward between Sam and Blaine for the next few days. They only spoke to each other when absolutely necessary and basically ignored each other as they quietly unpacked boxes and slowly made their small house look slightly homier.

One night, while Sam was in his room putting clothes in his closet, Blaine knocked on his door. He turned to look at him, and his heart stopped beating for a second. Blaine looked absolutely wrecked, as if he hadn't slept in days, and he was still wearing his loose flannel pyjama pants along with a loose t-shirt. He was playing with the hem of the t-shirt and looking down at his feet. Sam pursed his lips before he realized that Blaine was waiting for him to say something.

"Hi?" he asked hesitantly. Blaine looked up at him and gave him an unsure smile.

"Hi," he breathed. They simply stared at each other for a few seconds before Blaine spoke again, "I uh... I made pancakes. If you... want some."

Sam nodded, his eyes not tearing away from Blaine's. He felt like he wouldn't have been able to look away even if he wanted to, "Yeah. Thanks," they stared at each other again for a few seconds. Sam knew he shouldn't say it, because it could be awkward, but he couldn't stop himself and he found himself blurting, "Will you eat with me?"

Blaine pursed his lips and seemed to consider this, his eyes roaming over Sam's face as if searching signs of anger, "If you want me to," he said finally. Sam nodded.

"I want you to."

They stared at each other again and Sam could feel the tension in the room. Eventually Blaine nodded and teared his eyes away from Sam's. "Alright. Well... I'll be at the table," and then he awkwardly shuffled down the hall. Sam licked his lips and hoped that this meant that they were going to talk about that kiss (his heart couldn't help but speed up at the memory of having Blaine's lips on his) and what it had meant. He hung the shirt he had in his hands on an empty hanger and then quickly walked into the living room, where they had placed the table. He saw Blaine already sitting there, cutting into a pancake. There was an empty plate across from Blaine and a large plate full of pancakes in between. Sam sat down in front of the empty plate and then pulled a pancake onto it. He reached out for some butter and syrup, putting them on his breakfast (or lunch,

considering it was past 1pm) and then took a tentative bite. It was good. He ate a few more bites before deciding to break the silence.

"They're good," he said as he pulled another pancake onto his plate. Blaine shrugged, not looking up at him.

"I used a pancake mix," he whispered, and Sam noticed that his cheeks were faintly red. He smiled to himself, proud of the fact that he had managed to make Blaine blush, despite the fact that he had done it countless times in the past.

"You should buy more," he said as he dug into his second. Blaine finished his first and pulled another one onto his plate. Instead of eating it however he looked up at Sam, who stopped eating his own. Blaine bit his lip and Sam licked his, wondering what Blaine wanted to say.

Blaine took a deep breath. "If you want me to move out I will," his voice shook slightly as he said it, and Sam's eyes instantly widened.

"What? No, why would I want that?" Blaine rolled his eyes, as if to indicate that Sam must be really completely stupid.

"Well, because I... because I'm... you know," he finished lamely and honestly Sam didn't know. He stared at Blaine for a second and then it clicked. Blaine knew. Blaine must know that he was in love with him and that was why he was suggesting moving out because he was being considerate of Sam's feelings and... wow, that was such a Blaine thing to do.

"Oh," was all he managed to say, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by his love for the boy in front of him, no matter how much he had hurt him.

"Yeah."

They were quiet as they each finished the pancake on their plate. Sam finished first, but didn't lift his eyes from his plate.

"I don't want you to move out," he whispered. Blaine looked up at him, taking a shaky breath.

"What?"

Sam looked into his best friend's eyes and stated clearly, "I don't want you to move out."

"But... I thought..."

"Look, Blaine, you're my best friend. First and foremost. It doesn't matter what happens, whether it be a... a kiss," he paused, his eyes shutting at the painful yet wonderful memory, "Or a huge fight or anything. There is absolutely nothing that will stop me from being your friend. You're stuck with me forever, remember?" he gave Blaine a sad smile and Blaine nodded, giving him an equally sad smile.

"Okay," the word came out quietly, but then he looked up at Sam and spoke more confidently, "Okay, well, if we're going to make this whole roommates thing work, then we're going to have to stop ignoring each other."

A wide grin spread across Sam's face, "Good. Because it was starting to get old."

xxx

As the summer progressed things seemed to become less tense between Sam and Blaine. For a while Blaine was very careful with the physical contact, making sure that when he and Sam were watching TV or a movie that he sat as far away from him on the couch as possible and stuff like that, and he had taken to taking his clothes into the shower with him, something that he had never done before (Sam knew this from the countless sleepovers they had had together) and he seemed to avoid looking Sam directly in the eye for longer than three seconds.

Sam guessed it was to be expected, because if the positions had been reversed and he had found out that Blaine was in love with him when he wasn't in love with Blaine, well, he would be careful, too.

But after about a month Blaine started to become much more comfortable around Sam again, and Sam started cherishing the moments that Blaine would curl up next to him during a movie, his head resting on Sam's shoulder and Sam's hand resting on his hip. He stopped changing in the bathroom, allowing himself to make the short walk between his room and the bathroom in nothing but a small towel wrapped around his waist, and he was able to look into Sam's eyes for longer than three seconds.

By the time the two started their first term at UCLA their friendship was right back to the way it was before the kiss. Well, except for the fact that Blaine now knew about Sam's feelings for him. But neither of them ever mentioned it. Sometimes the fact that they ignored it completely made it feel like there was a giant elephant in

the room, but others it simply didn't matter. They were still best friends even though one best friend was in love with the other.

It didn't change anything.

xxx

Around October Blaine started working at a small coffee shop on campus which helped them with their daily expenses (their parents were splitting the rent, so they didn't have to worry about that) and also allowed both of them to have a free cup every day. Sam started studying there while Blaine worked and then when his shift was over they would drive back to their house together. He soon found that this was a wonderful way to stay on top of his classes, because at the house there were simply too many distractions, and even though one of them was still at the coffee shop with him he seemed like less of a distraction due to the fact that he was working and that he would get in trouble if Sam took up too much of his time.

Things were actually going quite well for the two friends. They were getting along wonderfully, Sam's grades were much better than he ever expected them to be, and Blaine had found something that he honestly enjoyed doing. Sam could honestly say for the first time in a while that he was happy. Yes, he still loved Blaine. Possibly more than when they had kissed. But they were both happy and they were still best friends, and for the time being that was good enough for Sam.

Until Kurt Hummel entered the picture.

Sam knew Kurt because they had voice instruction together. He knew Kurt was gay because well, it was extremely obvious. He also knew that Kurt had an amazing voice, clear and powerful. And he knew that Kurt had also grown up in Ohio, although he had been in Westerville, which was two hours away from Lima.

He and Kurt weren't exactly friends, but at the same time they weren't just classmates. He wasn't really sure how to consider Kurt Hummel. They shared their interest in music and their background and they both knew about how horrible the high school situation was for teen gays in Ohio (Kurt through personal experience and Sam through seeing it happen to Blaine), but they never hung out outside of class or talked about anything other than music or Ohio.

Which was why he was surprised when Kurt sat down in front of him the one afternoon at the coffee shop.

"Uh... hi?" Kurt flashed him a dazzling smile.

"Hello Sam. What are you studying?" he asked, peering over Sam's book and then nodded in understanding when he saw the numbers across the page. Sam decided to say it anyway.

"Math. I'm really hoping to not have to take it again next year. Pain in the ass."

Kurt hummed in agreement before turning towards the front of the shop. Sam looked over to where he was looking and his heart skipped a beat when he saw Blaine working the till with a cute red apron on.

"So... you're friends with Blaine Anderson, right?" asked Kurt casually. Sam looked at him before turning back to look at Blaine. He smiled when Blaine caught his eye, noticed his smile, looked down at his apron and mouthed 'shut up'.

"Yeah, we're best friends," he said looking back towards Kurt. Kurt nodded and took a sip of his coffee before asking his next question.

"And he's gay, right?"

Warning signals went up in Sam's mind at that question, but he ignored them, "Yeah."

"Hm," Kurt glanced back towards Blaine before leaning closer to Sam, "Is he seeing anyone at the moment?"

And then Sam realized what was going on. Kurt had a crush on Blaine.

And that just wasn't okay.

"No, but," he quickly started when he saw Kurt's face light up, "He's really into someone. Like, really into him. As in completely in love with him."

Kurt shrugged, "I can change that," he winked at Sam and then stood up and practically strutted out of the coffee shop. Sam glared after him so intently that he didn't even realize that Blaine was standing beside him.

"Was that Kurt Hummel?" he asked as he took Sam's empty coffee cup out of his hand and placed a fresh one in it, "Here, by the way. You look like you're dying over here."

Sam took the coffee gratefully and then returned to Blaine's initial question, "Yeah, he was just asking me some questions."

"Really? About what? I didn't know you two were friends."

"We're not," spat out Sam. Blaine raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you looked pretty chummy two seconds ago. Look, I'm done in ten minutes, so be ready okay?" Sam nodded, took a sip of his coffee and then went back to his studies, trying to push all thoughts of Kurt Hummel as far away as possible.

xxx

It took Sam about a week to realize that Kurt had started coming to the coffee shop every day at some point during Blaine's shift, and that he seemed to do everything he possibly could to end up being served by Blaine. And then he flirted with him. Openly. And obviously. Sam wanted to shoot him and he questioned why he had ever considered that man to be even his sort-of friend.

The painful part was that after a few times, Blaine started flirting back.

xxx

At some point during the middle of his second quarter Sam stopped going to the coffee shop to study and instead just went straight home after his classes, only showing up at the end of Blaine's shift to pick him up. Blaine had questioned him at first, but Sam had dismissed him quickly stating that it was far too loud in the shop and that he felt that he might be more productive at home. Blaine simply accepted it, even though he seemed slightly disappointed.

Sam was worried that his grades might suffer, but thankfully he was able to concentrate slightly, even though he knew that Kurt was at that very moment flirting with the man he was in love with; but he reasoned to himself that at least this was better than watching Blaine flirt back. This way he could imagine that Blaine was turning Kurt down over and over again, telling him that he was in love with Mystery Guy and that he didn't stand a chance, because, and maybe it was vain of him to think this but, if Sam didn't stand a chance with Blaine, then Kurt most certainly didn't.

One day when he went to pick Blaine up, Kurt was there. He and Blaine were talking about God-knows-what (Sam really didn't want to know), sipping on their coffees. Sam felt a small jolt in his heart when he noticed that Blaine was holding a second cup, and he quickly got out of his car and jogged over to the two.

Blaine's face broke into a giant grin when he saw him approaching and Kurt gave him a small smirk. When he was close enough Blaine held out the second coffee cup for him, and Sam took it gratefully.

"You are the most amazing human being on the face of this earth. You know that, right?" he asked, and Blaine flushed, which made him smile. Kurt gave him a sideways glance, which Sam ignored, "Ready to go?"

Blaine nodded and turned towards Kurt, "I'll see you later, okay?"

Kurt smiled at him widely, "Yeah. Later," he then looked at Sam and raised an eyebrow, "Are you two going somewhere?"

Sam directed a forced smile in his direction, "Yeah. Home. Where we live. Together."

"Oh really?" asked Kurt, raising an eyebrow. Sam nodded.

"Yep. Come on Blaine, I was thinking of getting wings for supper and I'm starved," he nodded towards the car and Blaine grinned at him again.

"You read my mind! I've been craving wings all day! Bye Kurt!"

Sam could feel Kurt watching them as they walked away, and he couldn't help but smile to himself.

Sam-1, Kurt-0

xxx

When Spring Break rolled around, Sam and Blaine decided to just stay in L.A. because it seemed pointless to go all the way back to Lima for just a week when they would be going back for the entire summer in just two months. They decided to spend their time wisely instead: studying, working on projects, watching movies, and trying out new recipies (apparently Kurt had given Blaine a whole ton that he really wanted to try).

It was during one of these moments that Blaine said the words that Sam had hoped that he would never say. They were attempting to make some sort of soufflé and, from the looks of it, failing miserably when Blaine casually said, "So Kurt asked me out."

Sam dropped the dirty bowl in his hands, which thankfully was plastic so didn't shatter on impact, and quickly picked it up, feeling his cheeks heat up.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Blaine said slowly, a small smile creeping onto his face. Sam quickly told him to shut up and Blaine laughed.

Sam hoped that was the end of it, that he wouldn't say anything else, because this was their time and dammit, Kurt Hummel wasn't going to ruin that for him.

"I think I'm going to say yes."

This time thankfully he wasn't holding anything, because he was sure he would have dropped it again.

Blaine, it seemed, was purposefully avoiding eye contact with him, his eyes trained on the glass bowl he was cleaning.

Sam didn't know what to say. Well, actually, he did. But what he wanted to say and what he should say were two different things entirely. He leaned against the counter, his fingernails digging into the wood as he tried to think straight.

Blaine didn't love him. He and Sam weren't dating. There was really no reason why Blaine wouldn't go out with Kurt. He was single and gay and completely into him. Apparently the complete opposite of Mystery Guy, who it seemed Blaine was making another effort to get over.

And then it hit Sam what a slap in the face this really was. Blaine wanted to get over Mystery Guy. And he knew Sam was in love with him. And even then he still went for Kurt Hummel first.

Why was _he_ not good enough? Why couldn't Blaine just _give him a chance_.

"Why him?" he asked, his teeth clenched. He couldn't see Blaine from where he was standing, but he felt his best friends eyes on him.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I asked. Why him?" he turned to glare at Blaine, who had a look on his face that was a mix between scared and angry.

"Wh-why does that even matter? I like him. That's why," he glared right back at Sam, but Sam stood his ground.

"But you don't love him."

"Of course not. I've only known him for a few months," replied Blaine, rolling his eyes.

"So you're going to go out with him," Sam could hear the venom in his own voice. Blaine's jaw set.

"Listen Sam, you can't dictate who I date," he spat at Sam, who winced, his heart giving a painful jolt.

"I never said anything like that."

"No, look Sam, I get it, you like having all my attention on you. God, this is the same as with Jeremiah... Why are you so against me being happy?" Blaine was screaming now. And for the first time in his life, Sam really wanted to scream back. So he did.

"Against you being happy? Blaine, all I want is for you to be happy! I don't know if you realize how much I've _suffered_ so that you can be happy!"

"Suffered?"

"Yes, suffered! What, you think watching you date Jeremiah for a year wasn't hard for me? You think watching you take months to get over it wasn't hard for me? You think living with you, in this fucking house, isn't hard for me?" Blaine's eyes widened, but the anger remained.

"I offered to move out. I offered, because I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, but you insisted that no, you were fine, you wanted me to say. And now you're saying that you've been suffering by living in the same house as me? How does that even make _sense_ Sam?" Blaine had taken a step towards him and Sam would have taken a step back, because angry Blaine was pretty intimidating, but he was already pressed right up against the counter.

"It makes perfect sense! Because no matter how much it hurts me to just_ look_ at you, it would hurt more not to be able to see you every day. I couldn't do that Blaine. Because no matter what you are my best friend, first and foremost."

"Well you're being a shitty best friend," retorted Blaine. Sam gaped.

"I'm... _I'm _being a shitty best friend? Look who's talking!"

"What does that mean?"

"What I said. Look. Who's. Talking," Blaine shook his head and took several deep breaths.

"I don't know what I did wrong Sam. Please, tell me, what did I do wrong, except try to find a speck of happiness in my life,"

"But why does it have to be with_ him_?" Sam basically hissed the word 'him'. He wanted to add _and not me_ but he didn't, because he knew it would only make things worse.

"I can't believe we're having this conversation... I can't believe... Look, I'm allowed to date who I want, alright Sam? You can't just decided you don't like someone so I shouldn't even give them a shot."

Sam ran a hand through his hair, "Okay. Okay. I get it. I don't dictate your life. Fine. Whatever. Go on your stupid date. Go fuck Hummel's brains out. I don't care anymore. I'm done. I'm done hurting. I'm done just standing back and not doing anything," he turned to leave.

"You're done? _You're done_? You're done _hurting_? Do you even know what it's like for me Sam? Do you? God, I can't believe you're playing the victim!"

Sam turned around slowly, and simply stared at Blaine. He noticed that he had tears forming in his eyes, and he almost punched a wall. He was about to say something, but Blaine started talking again, the tears now obvious in his voice.

"I'm trying so hard Sam," his voice was small, as if it was physically painful for him to say them, "I've been trying since I was fourteen. But I just can't get over you. And I don't know what you want from me anymore."

Sam was frozen on the spot. His brain seemed to have shut down, and all he could hear, over and over again were those six words.

_I just can't get over you._

_I just can't get over you._

_Get over you._

_You._

You.

"Me?" he whispered, "You... me? You love_ me_?" it didn't make sense. No, Blaine didn't love Sam. Blaine knew Sam was in love with him, and if Blaine loved him he would have done something. Right?

Blaine furrowed his brow and wiped his eyes, "You didn't know?" he paused for a second, thinking, and then tilted his head to the side, "But... I thought... After I kissed you..."

And suddenly it all hit Sam. The kiss. Blaine had kissed him, not because he knew Sam was in love with him and he wanted to try it out, not in a spur of the moment thing, not on accident. He had kissed him because he was in love with him.

Sam was the Mystery Guy that Blaine was in love with.

He felt like such an idiot.

"You love me," he repeated, slowly wrapping his mind around the idea. The words tasted strange on his tongue, but also pleasant. Very pleasant.

Blaine loved him.

He suddenly burst into laughter. He was so _stupid_. All these months, no, years of pining and it turned out that it was him all along. Blaine loved _him_. Not Jeremiah or Kurt or anybody else. Him. Sam Evans.

"I can't believe you," said Blaine, and Sam saw that he looked like he really wanted to slap him across the face, "I can't believe that you... God, I never thought... all the times I pictured myself actually coming clean... I never thought you'd_ laugh_."

He shook his head, obviously forcing himself not to start crying again, and Sam just couldn't help but grin. He should feel bad for laughing. He should feel bad because Blaine obviously thought he was a jerk. But he didn't care. Blaine loved him.

And he loved Blaine.

_Crap_ he remembered,_ Blaine doesn't know I love him_.

He walked towards Blaine, cupping his cheek gently. Blaine looked up at him, anger turning into confusion.

"Sam... what are you..."

Sam cut him off by leaning down and pressing his lips to Blaine's for what felt like the first time. He remembered the last time this had happened, how wonderful it had felt to feel Blaine kissing him, how he was sure that nothing in the world could be better than that moment.

He had been wrong. Because this, kissing Blaine while knowing that his love was reciprocated... it was indescribable.

He wasn't sure when it was, but at some point Blaine started kissing back. And it was absolutely glorious.

Sam knew he could have stayed there, in the middle of their kitchen, kissing Blaine forever. But he couldn't. Because there was something really important that he had to tell Blaine first.

He pulled away and rested his forehead on Blaine's.

"I love you."

Blaine's eyes were closed and his breathing was shaky. He had a hand on one of Sam's biceps and the other holding onto the fabric of his shirt.

Sam felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The world seemed lighter, colours seemed brighter and Blaine... Blaine was breathing on him and he felt like he could fly.

"You can't love me," Blaine whispered, and Sam laughed and then kissed him again because he could.

"Except I do," he said, framing Blaine's face with his hands. Blaine looked at him through his eyelashes and Sam just grinned, because this beautiful, beautiful man was in love with him. Not Kurt Hummel, not Jeremiah. Him. Sam Evans. Blaine Anderson was in love with Sam Evans.

And Sam loved him back.

"But you're straight," Blaine buried his face in Sam's chest. Sam laughed, and he felt Blaine smile through the fabric of his t-shirt.

"So? I'm still in love with you."

Blaine was clutching onto the material of Sam's shirt again and he looked up at Sam, a small smile on his face.

"So you're straight," he said slowly. Sam nodded, so Blaine continued, "But you're in love with me. A boy."

"Yes. That sounds right."

"And this isn't just a phase or something right? Because I really have been in love with you since we were fourteen and..."

"Blaine?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up," and he pulled him close and kissed him again.

xxx

That night, as he held Blaine close to him in his bed (they decided to go shopping for a double bed the next day), he realized that for the first time in his life everything felt... right. One hundred percent right. Blaine snuggled into his chest and Sam pressed a kiss to his head, which made his best friend, and now boyfriend, nuzzle him and let out a small noise that was probably the most adorable thing that Sam had ever heard.

Sam held Blaine closer and allowed himself to enjoy this moment, because he was finally with Blaine, it was finally real. No more pining, no more jealousy, no more hurting. Sure, he knew they would have problems, what couple didn't? But it would be worth it. Because he and Blaine were in love, and nothing could stand in between that.

His eyes caught on the piece of paper he had hanging on the wall right beside his pillow, and he smiled at eight year-old Blaine's messy scrawl that he remembered being so impressed with, and then his smile widened at the small heart beside the name.

"'_cause you're my favourite thing that I like_!"

He sighed as the memory of that day came rushing back as it had so many times over the past two and a half years, and he wondered if even back then he had already been in love with Blaine, and at the memory of eight year-old Blaine's blushing face he couldn't help but wonder if Blaine had already been in love with him, too.

He smiled, knowing that if he told his eight year-old self that in ten years he would be cuddling with Blaine, knowing they were completely in love with each other, he would have grinned from ear to ear and told him that that sounded like an amazing idea. Because Blaine was his best friend.

And he simply couldn't imagine himself with anyone else.

**End note: **I realized after re-reading this that I never clarified who Blaine had kissed before Jeremiah. That was Dave (Karofsky), but it wasn't in the whole 'yelling and then forced kiss and Blaine pushing him away and being super freaked out' way, like what happened to Kurt in NBK. It was more like Dave was confused so he went to Blaine, who he knew was gay, they talked, and then Blaine offered to kiss him to clear up some of the confusion.

Just thought I would mention that (:

Let me know what you thought!


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